When Calls the Heart still delayed; what to hope for coming up
So what’s going to be going down instead? More waiting — and on Hallmark itself it will be airing more movies. The network and the producers have yet to publicly discuss what their plans are for the future of the series, including whether or not these could involve re-shoots, a recasting of Lori Loughlin’s character of Abigail, or just some cuts of the remaining season 6 episodes that feature the character a little less than originally planned.
Following Loughlin’s arrest, the network’s parent company Crown Media took a pretty strong stance, dismissing Loughlin from all of her projects at the network while When Calls the Heart took an indefinite hiatus. We’ve stated this before, but her arrest puts the network in a difficult, high-wire act sort of position. If they just put the show back on the air, they run the risk of criticism from people who feel like the actress’s actions don’t mesh with the branding of this channel and shouldn’t be on screen for even a second — even if they aren’t bringing her back for any new episodes. There are also those who may not understand that new episodes are filming long in advance and think that the network airing them = them continuing to endorse Loughlin. There’s a fear that seeing her in the wake of the headlines will hand out a message that the network doesn’t want to give.
We do actually think that there is a fairly easy solution to this issue, and that is to continue to air the remaining episodes featuring Loughlin as-is, but just to air some sort of disclaimer beforehand stating that the episodes were filmed prior to the news that came out about her arrest. Like it or not, what happened is going to be an elephant in the room no matter what they do. If they don’t feature Lori some episodes, her absence will be discussed. If you recast Abigail, that’s going to be the hot topic. One way or another, there’s going to be conversation and we certainly feel for the producers as they still try to comb through ideas and determine the best future course for the show. Odds are, they’ve already configured somewhat of a plan — implementing it is the next step.
The most important thing to remember…
As we mention in our latest video below (be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube so you don’t miss out on future videos all about the show), When Calls the Heart is going to continue to be a part of the greater Hallmark world. It hasn’t been canceled, and that’s a good thing for the network given all the money it makes and also the fact that there’s a streaming-only spin-off in the works. Hope Valley WILL be back, so it’s a matter of when rather than if. Until then, we as viewers just have to spin our wheels and hope that there solutions to this issue can be implemented fairly quickly and get this show back on the air.
If you do want to get some more news on When Calls the Heart…
Then be sure to visit the link here right now!
What do you want to see on When Calls the Heart moving forward, and is it hard not knowing precisely what’s going to happen in regards to the show’s future? Share now in the comments. (Photo: Hallmark.)