It’s been a week of welcome good news for Hearties. Amidst the Lori Loughlin college admissions scandal and subsequent trial, Hallmark has renewed When Calls the Heart for a seventh season. Series star Erin Krakow (aka Elizabeth Thornton) announced the renewal news in a video on the Hallmark Channel’s Instagram feed, revealing that the next season will drop sometime in 2020.
This revelation couldn’t have come at a better time for anxious fans. Shortly after headlines broke about Loughlin’s alleged role in the college admissions cheating scandal, Hallmark pulled When Calls the Heart’s current season six off the air. At first, it was unclear whether the series would even go on without Loughlin, who portrayed the original character of Mayor Abigail Stanton. When the network cut all ties with the actress in the wake of the scam, producer Brian Bird issued a statement reassuring fans that When Calls the Heart wasn’t ending. Rather, the network simply needed time to do a little “retooling.”
The network clearly made good on their word. And When Calls the Heart’s season seven renewal wasn’t the only refreshingly positive development Krakow shared with viewers this week. On Thursday, April 11, she touched base with fans to follow-up on the return of season six. Krakow assured viewers that not only is When Calls the Heart coming back soon, but it’s coming back in a big way. “I’m so happy to tell you that season six is returning Sunday, May 5th at eight. But that’s not all! We want to give you something special to mark our return. So we’ll also be airing a second brand-new episode on Monday, May 6th. That’s right… brand-new episodes two nights in a row before we’re back on our regular night Sundays at eight. We can’t wait to welcome you back to Hope Valley and share all-new stories with you.”
A double-episode week and another season? This Heartie is officially in heaven.
Of course, what will happen to Loughlin’s character remains a mystery. At this point, it’s possible that all her scenes for the remainder of season six have been cut. Since her role was so integral to the plot, however, Hallmark obviously had to come up with a plausible reason for her unexpected and prolonged (read: forever) absence.
Our vote? The wealthy out-of-town aunt to Abigail’s two adopted children, Becky and Cody, convinces Abigail to move to her estate in Davenport. At least that way Abigail gets to live on in fans’ minds. After all, she — Abigail Stanton, the fictional mayor of Hope Valley — didn’t do anything wrong.
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