‘When Hope Calls’: What We Know About The ‘When Calls The Heart’ Spinoff

When Hope calls

When Hope Calls comes to Hallmark’s streaming service this summer but there’s not much known about the When Calls the Heart spinoff. However, following the Christmas special, The Greatest Christmas Blessing that aired on Christmas Day,  a few spoilers and hints finally make sense. Plus, the Hallmark snippet/ad helped cement the basic storyline in more than wishful thinking.

‘When Hope Calls’ arrives in summer

Brian Bird, the exec producer of WCTH TV said on Twitter that fans should be able to get some clues about When Hope Calls by watching Season 6 of When Calls the Heart. His tweet back in July 2018, said, “Can’t wait 4 #Hearties 2fall in love all over again with the world inspired by #JanetteOke’s CanadianWest series… yet another new Family series we are creating 4 U with a new town & new characters. #WhenHopeCalls will premiere on #HallmarkNow. Watch 4 clues in S6 of @WCTH_TV.”

When Calls the Heart premieres February 24, a month shy of spring. As summer only starts in June, that brings plenty of opportunities for Hearties to work up some fan theories for the new spinoff. We already know the series comes with the same sort of feelies as WCTH from the official announcement. The press release said that Crown Media Family Networks’ first streaming series hopefully succeeds because of the success of WCTH.

Bridging ‘When Calls the Heart’ and ‘When Hope Calls’

Jack Wagner brought us a hint of how Hallmark will bridge the series seasons. On Christmas Eve, TV Insider published an interview with Jack Wagner, who plays the role of Bill Avery in the series. He explained that the reason for the standalone films about WCTH is to bridge the main series. Of course, it also helps to pull in more viewers for the series itself.

In the case of this year’s The Greatest Christmas Blessing, the bridge not only helps audiences become acquainted with life after Mountie Jack Thornton (Danel Lissing) in WCTH. In fact, it helps to bridge with the new upcoming When Hope Calls series. The movie, (without giving away too many spoilers), showed the orphans that were stranded on their way to their new orphanage. In the Christmas spirit, the community came together to make something special for them.

If you’re thinking as many fans did, that the Christmas story could have been done without a bunch of orphans, there’s every indication this was the bridge to the new Hallmark series. This was picked up by a sharp-eyed follower who mentioned it on Twitter in the tweet below:

Presumably, the orphans move on to a new town and start their new lives to keep Hearties enthralled for more years to come.  Brian Bird pretty much confirmed it in this tweet:

Cast characters for ‘When Hope Calls’

Hallmark’s keeping the cast close to their chests. Nevertheless, we know of at least two new characters. They debuted in the movie as the caretakers of the orphans. Lillian was played by Morgan Kohan and Grace by Jocelyn Hudon.

Fans hoping to see some of the old characters from When Calls the Heart need not panic too soon. What Brian Bird said on Facebook, was that we would see some new characters. He did not say we won’t see any old characters. So, we just have to hope that plays out in the new series.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqX2INcH4-R/

Where can you watch the new ‘Hope Calls’ series?

The new series is set to air via Hallmark Movies Now streaming service. Some fans are unhappy that this means forking out for another paid streaming service, groaned about that. Jack’s dead on When Calls the Heart. Some Hearties feel the story’s already dead for them. In fact, unless they bring back Jack in the new paid streaming service, some of them vow to never watch it.

Other wishful fan theories are that Jack never died and comes back and he and Elizabeth set off to look after the new Hope Calls orphans. That’s about as hard to factor in as the possibility of Elizabeth marrying someone else and then discovering Jack didn’t die after all. Daniel Lissing chose to leave the show so it really doesn’t look like he will return.

What do you think of the new When Hope Calls series by Hallmark? Will you pay to watch it? Does this mean the end is nearing for When Calls the Heart? Let us know your feelings by sounding off in the comments below.

Jane Flowers
Follow me

13 Comments

  1. I don’t want to pay to watch a new series. I would watch it if it were on the regular Hallmark station so, unfortunately, I won’t be watching When Hope Calls

  2. I wouldn’t pay to watch a new series, but that’s not it. They ruined everything by forcing Jack out, i am finished with WCTH.

  3. I’m not paying to watch a series online.
    I pay enough for my cable.
    So spin-off will probably never seen by me.

    My feeling is that nobody could fill Dan’s shoes.
    Jack’s death did take the magic spark out of the show…. but I’m hoping that Elizabeth will find new love.
    (Maybe the saloon owner?)

    I loved watching the Christmas special and Season 6 will be good.

    1. I too don’t have the extra money to spend to watch something online. It’s sounds like I’m not alone and happy about that. Maybe if no one subscribes Hallmark will get the idea and not bother putting movies/shows online that have to be paid for.

  4. I won’t pay for another channel, I won’t even subscribe to Hallmark movies and mysteries. My tv Bill is already to high.😬😬😬😬

  5. I just think that Jack could have been replaced by another actor, and the movie could have continued on. Jack was just built up too much (and everybody liked him), just to be let down.

  6. I currently subscribe to Hallmark Movies Now( Feeln) but don’t plan to renew.
    I would like to the watch When Hope Calls but too expensive.

  7. I will not pay for a new streaming service, even thought When calls the heart was one of my favorite shows. I got rid of cable because of the high cost, so I’m not going to pay for an additional service.

  8. I can’t imagine that WCTH would end anytime soon. It has such a following. New people every day like me. I can’t afford extra channels so I have to wait on Netflix.

  9. I will pay for this streaming service. It’s only $5.99/month. You get a week free and can cancel anytime. Plenty of time to watch the season for that little price.

  10. I’m through with Hallmark since they decided to fire Lori. I think she should be forgiven, in keeping with the values Hallmark claims to have.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *