When Calls the Heart

Premise

Set in 1910, the story follows Elizabeth Thatcher (Krakow), a young teacher accustomed to her high-society life, who moves to Coal Valley, a small coal-mining town in Western Canada which is located just south of Robb, Alberta. Thatcher meets and falls in love with Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing). Thatcher works to help the children of the town, and befriends many of the townsfolk including Abigail Stanton (Lori Loughlin), who recently lost her son and husband in a recent mine explosion. The town was renamed Hope Valley in the second season following the closing of the coal mine.

Cast and characters

Main

Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton: a passionate young teacher from city life. She found herself in Hope Valley, a small community on the Canadian frontier in need of a teacher, and quickly discovers it is not an easy place to live, lacking the creature comforts and luxuries of her privileged life with her family. After marrying Jack, she loses him; shortly after the funeral, she finds out that she is expecting. Elizabeth meets businessman Lucas Bouchard a year after Jack's passing. They form a friendship based on their similar interests and strong intellectual connection. Lucas immediately falls in love with Elizabeth, but Elizabeth is still grieving Jack. The two eventually start dating, but he lets her go when he senses unresolved tension between Elizabeth and Nathan. This enables Elizabeth to recognize that her feelings for Nathan are her feelings for Jack that she has projected onto him. She realizes that she is in love with Lucas and they begin a courtship. Lucas proposes to Elizabeth in the Season 9 finale and she happily accepts. Their engagement is however broken off by Elizabeth in the Season 10 finale, because Elizabeth didn't wish to move to the capital with Lucas.

Daniel Lissing as Jack Thornton (seasons 1–5): a Mountie and a man of stout character and integrity. He often finds himself protecting and saving people. Upon his first meeting of Elizabeth, Jack developed an instant dislike and it appeared she irritated him. However, as like Elizabeth, he grew to like her and eventually falls in love with her over time. He "dies" off-screen in a Mountie training camp in Season 5.

Lori Loughlin as Abigail Stanton (seasons 1–6; guest season 13; 14): a Hope Valley woman whose husband and son died in the mining accident. She is a very kind woman, and she stands strongly for the things she believes in. She is one of the first women to welcome Elizabeth and the two women quickly become friends. Abigail's character was initially written off the show, halfway through season 6, following Loughlin's involvement in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal, through the idea that Abigail had travelled "back east" to take care of her sick mother. Loughlin is set to reprise the role in season 14.

Chelah Horsdal as Cat Montgomery (season 1): a woman of strong faith who teaches Sunday school after the church is destroyed. She is Gabe, Miles and Emily's mother.

Martin Cummins as Henry Gowen: a businessman who managed the late Hope Valley mining company and was arrested for stealing town funds. With the help of Abigail, he is given a second chance and starts his own oil business in the town.

Recurring

Charlotte Hegele as Julie Thatcher (recurring seasons 1–2 & 5; guest seasons 6, 10): Elizabeth's younger sister who longs for romance and adventure

Erica Carroll as Dottie Ramsey (seasons 1–5): The widow of former town mayor Silas Ramsey, and a curious woman who is interested in everything happening in town.

Loretta Walsh as Florence Blakeley Yost (season 1–present): A Hope Valley resident who is known to gossip. She later marries Ned Yost.

Johannah Newmarch as Molly Sullivan (season 1–present): A Hope Valley resident who is the mother of Rosaleen. She worked for Bill as an office cleaner. She later becomes the receptionist and Carson and Faith's assistant at the infirmary.

Hrothgar Mathews as Ned Yost (season 1–present): The owner and proprietor of the town's Mercantile. He has a daughter named Katie. He later marries Florence Blakeley.

Ben Rosenbaum as Mike Hickam (season 1–present): A resident of Hope Valley who's worked at the mercantile, Lee's sawmill, Gowen Petroleum, and the Queen of Hearts.

Laura Bertram as Mary Dunbar-Graves (seasons 1–3): A woman who is left to care for her young son, Caleb, after her husband is killed in the mining accident. She later remarries a coal miner, Dewitt Graves in Season 2.

Steve Bacic as Charles Spurlock (season 1): A Pinkerton agent who worked for Henry Gowen.

Gracyn Shinyei as Emily Montgomery (season 1–present): A student of Elizabeth's and Cat's daughter

Mitchell Kummen as Gabe Montgomery (seasons 1–2): a student of Elizabeth's who is Emily's older brother

Notable guest stars

James Brolin as Circuit Judge Jedidiah Black (season 1): A judge who comes to Hope Valley to prosecute Henry Gowen.

Karin Konoval as Aunt Agatha Thatcher (seasons 2, 10): Elizabeth's aunt and her fathers sister.

Anne Marie DeLuise as Carolyn Connors (season 3): Cody and Becky's estranged aunt

Brooke Shields as Charlotte Thornton (season 3, 13): Jack's mother

Josie Bissett as AJ Foster (seasons 4–5): An outlaw that Bill had run-ins with

Cindy Busby as Marlise Bennett (season 4): Carson's former sister-in-law

Michael Hogan as Archie Grant (season 7): Nathan's father

Teryl Rothery as Helen Bouchard (season 8): Lucas's mother

Melissa Gilbert as Georgie McGill (season 12–13)

Production

The series, originally planned to be filmed in Colorado, was filmed in south Vancouver, British Columbia, on a farm surrounded by vineyards. The fictional frontier town of Coal Valley (later Hope Valley) was erected in late 2013. Some of the set trimmings and a stage coach came from the Hell on Wheels set. The Thatcher home is the University Women's Club of Vancouver.

The costuming of the first season closely resembles the clothes of the 1910s period for historical accuracy. The second season's appears more contemporary and departs from the previous season's. In April 2016, the series's Slovene-born costume designer Barbara Gregusova told TVInsider.com that Hallmark hired Gregusova to make the third season's costuming a mixture of that of the previous two seasons. She further said that such costuming mixture was done also to reduce timing to design the clothes and because the clothes accurately resembling those from 1910 would be more expensive to make.

Hallmark wanted me to still do 1910 but with a modern feel. I usually call it a "stylized 1910 period" because we are trying to keep some of the period silhouettes, but when it comes to the color palette, it’s definitely brighter and very Hallmark-ish because it's very colorful.

Some viewers and critics criticized the costuming in subsequent seasons for less historical accuracy compared to the first season.

Release

The series began airing on the Hallmark Channel in the United States on January 11, 2014, and on Super Channel in Canada on April 16, 2014. The series was renewed for a second season, which aired from April 25 to June 13, 2015. Hallmark Channel announced in July 2015 that the series had been renewed for a third season, which aired from February 21 to April 10, 2016, with a sneak peek airing during the 2015 Christmas season. Soon in the same period, it was announced that Season 4 would premiere on the Hallmark Channel Christmas Day with a two-hour special. On April 11, 2016, Lissing and Krakow announced via the series' Facebook page that Hallmark Channel had renewed the series for a fourth season, which aired from February 19 to April 23, 2017.

On April 24, 2017, series star Erin Krakow announced via the Hallmark Channel website that the show would return for a fifth season, which premiered in February 2018 and ended in April. Filming for season five began in Vancouver on August 22, 2017, and ended on December 21, 2017. The show later aired from February to April 2018. Season six of the show began airing on February 24, 2019, however, on March 14, Hallmark announced that they had dropped Loughlin from future company projects due to her role in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal. On April 10, 2019, it was announced that season six would resume on May 5, 2019, with Loughlin's scenes edited out.

On April 13, 2019, the series was renewed for a seventh season which aired February 23 to April 26, 2020. On April 26, 2020, Hallmark Channel announced via a video from Krakow that the series would return for an eighth season, which aired from February 21 to May 9, 2021. On May 9, 2021, Hallmark Channel announced via a video from Krakow that the series would return for a ninth season, which aired from March 6 to May 22, 2022. On June 17, 2022, the series was renewed for a tenth season. On February 22, 2023, ahead of the tenth season premiere, the series was renewed for an eleventh season which went on to premiere on April 7, 2024.

On May 10, 2024, Hallmark Channel announced, via an Entertainment Tonight exclusive, that the series would be returning for a twelfth season, with 12 all-new episodes. Production began on July 2024. On March 23, 2025, the series was renewed for another 12 episodes for a thirteenth season. On December 2, 2025, ahead of the thirteenth season premiere, the series was renewed for 12 episodes of a fourteenth season with Loughlin set to return after making a cameo in the season 13 finale.

Broadcast

The first season of the series was subsequently picked up by CBC Television for rebroadcast as a summer series in 2015. The network has since aired all six seasons. The series became available internationally on Netflix in August 2017, but was taken off in early 2021. Seasons 7–9 were added to Peacock in November 2022.

Spin-offs

A spin-off of the show, When Hope Calls, was announced at Hallmark's Television Critics Association summer press tour on July 26, 2018. The series debuted on August 30, 2019, as the initial offering of the Hallmark Movies Now streaming service. The second season aired on Great American Family and the third season premiered on April 2, 2026 on Pureflix.

A second spin-off, Hope Valley: 1874, is a prequel created for streaming service Hallmark+. This spin-off premiered March 21, 2026.

Accolades

The show was awarded the Epiphany Prize for Inspiring Television at the 2019 MovieGuide Awards.