‘When Calls the Heart’ Is “Retooling” Amid Lori Loughlin Scandal

By Claire Spellberg @c_spellberg
Published March 18, 2019, 9:01 a.m. ET

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Lori Loughlin

The show must go on — with or without Lori Loughlin. On Sunday, When Calls the Heart producer Brian Bird took over the series’ Instagram account to assure fans that the popular Hallmark Channel drama will continue without longtime star Loughlin, who is currently facing mail fraud charges for her alleged involvement in a college admissions scandal. Hallmark has since cut ties with the actress, but Bird told viewers that the show “has not been canceled” in the wake of her arrest. Rather, the drama is “retooling” the remaining episodes in Season 6 to effectively write out Loughlin, a process that Bird said “has already begun.”

“#Hearties, thank you for your love, support, and patience these last several days as we have all been preoccupied with the news about Lori Loughlin and her family, and the decisions our colleagues at the Hallmark Channel USA needed to make, wrote Bird. “As you can imagine, everyone involved with When Calls the Heart was surprised by these developments, so we hope you can forgive us for initially staying silent while we sorted through how to respond.”

“Let us reassure you, When Calls the Heart has always been bigger than the sum of its parts, and it HAS NOT BEEN CANCELED,” the statement continued. “With the full support of the network, we have gone on a creative hiatus to do some retooling on the remaining Season 6 episodes. That process has already begun. Hope Valley will return to your TV screens as soon as we can bring the episodes to you.” Bird went on to thank fans for “continuing to show your support,” particularly through such a “challenging transition” period for the show. “Your Hearties community will always be the most important legacy of this TV series,” he concluded.

Loughlin has starred in When Calls the Heart since 2014, the drama’s debut season. For six seasons, she played Abigail Stanton, a widow living in on the Canadian frontier in the 1910s. Following her arrest last week, Hallmark Chanel cut ties with the actress. “We are saddened by the recent news surrounding the college admissions allegations,” Hallmark’s parent company said in a statement Thursday. “We are no longer working with Lori Loughlin and have stopped development of all productions that air on the Crown Media Family Network channels involving Lori Loughlin including Garage Sale Mysteries, an independent third party production.”

Where to stream When Calls the Heart