This arrives after the Abigail Stanton depicter and husband Mossimo Gianulli, who were allegedly involved in the nationwide college admissions scandal, were indicted on the additional charge with 14 other parents on Tuesday, April 9.
- Apr 11, 2019
AceShowbiz - Hearties, it's good news for you! Hallmark Channel has announced that season 6 of "When Calls the Heart" will resume with a two-night event on May 5 and 6, before returning to its normal Sunday slot. However, one of the town's most familiar faces will be absent in the new episodes.
EP Brian Bird confirmed on the show's Instagram account that the series was set to return following a "creative" hiatus and a "challenging transition." The account of the period drama, which takes sudden hiatus in the wake of the college admissions scandal involving cast member Lori Loughlin, wrote, "From Executive Producer, Brian Bird: #Hearties, thanks for sticking with us through this challenging time. As you now know… the show not only must go on, but will go on, starting Sunday night, May 5th and Monday night, May 6th, and then in our regular Sunday night time slot after that through the remainder of Season 6."
"Life throws all of us painful curveballs, and the only way to survive is to walk right through them with courage, grace, a forgiving spirit, and most of all, hope," the account continued. "Many of you have wondered what the future holds for our cast and crew, and for the citizens of Hope Valley. Your care and concern means the world to us, and the best way we can thank you is to encourage you the way you encourage us because… Hope always lives here."
Through a statement, Bird also thanked the fans 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."
"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. As for the show itself, we know millions of fans are on pins and needles wondering what will happen now," the statement went on to read. "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 drama also hinted that it did some "retooling" to edit out Loughlin's Abigail Stanon from any scenes. "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," the statement concluded.
Also starring Erin Krakow, Jack Wagner, Martin Cummins, Pascale Hutton, Kavan Smith, Chris McNally, Loretta Walsh and Kevin McGarry, "When Calls the Heart" debuted in 2014. Inspired by Janette Oke's book of the same name, the drama follows Krakow's Elizabeth Thatcher, a young teacher accustomed to her high-society life who receives her first classroom assignment in Coal Valley, a small coal-mining town in Western Canada.
Loughlin and husband Mossimo Gianulli were indicted with 48 other people, including "Desperate Housewives" alum Felicity Huffman, for their alleged involvement in the nationwide college admissions scandal. The pair are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters admitted into the University of Southern California by pretending the sisters were competitive rowing recruits, while they had never trained in the sport and had no plans to do so.
The pair, who are currently free on $1 million bond each, were indicted on the additional charge with 14 other parents on Tuesday. A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office stated that they allegedly "[conspired] to launder the bribes and other payments in furtherance of the fraud by funneling them through [William] Singer's purported charity and his for-profit corporation, as well as by transferring money into the United States, from outside the United States, for the purpose of promoting the fraud scheme."
