[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]
This weekend, Hallmark Channel wraps up the 13th season of its tentpole series, When Calls the Heart, which is already slated to return for its 14th next year. To bide the time between seasons, Hallmark+ is rolling out a second spinoff of the series (following When Hope Calls, which changed networks after a single season on Hallmark+).
Hope Valley: 1874, premiering Saturday on Hallmark+, was a fast-track production, even by Hallmark standards. Announced four months ago, it began filming in British Columbia in January, and just wrapped production. A prequel, set 50 years earlier than where WCTH is now, the streaming series is another family-friendly ensemble centered on the people in and around the early days of what will come to be the town in WCTH.
Our POVs into the frontier western are widowed mom Rebecca Clarke (Bethany Joy Lenz) and her 11-year-old daughter, Sarah (Mila Morgan), who have found their way to the Pacific Northwest Canadian territories via wagon from points unknown that they really don’t care to discuss. All we know is that she recently lost her husband, who was a doctor—and from whom she picked up some things—and left a situation that was untenable.
When they arrive at the edge of the as-yet-unnamed homestead, at the site of a camp where prospectors have started arriving in droves pan for gold, they cross paths with Tom Moore (Benjamin Ayres), a local cattle rancher, and Hattie Quinn (Jill Hennessy), who runs the trading post. Tom isn’t keen on the interlopers, referring to them as locusts, while Hattie, also a widowed single mother of a daughter, Olivia (Roan Curtis), sees the opportunity for more customers.
What we do know is that Rebecca came west on the promise of a fresh start, which crumbles away amid a deception and betrayal, leaving her at cross purposes about her next steps. Despite his outward gruffness, Tom softens toward Rebecca and Sarah and their predicament, even if he thinks it foolhardy.
He introduces her to the couple who work for him, Peggy McCabe (Chelsea Hobbs), who takes care of his home, and her husband, Nate (Brad Abramenko), his ranch hand, and their children, Jenny (Alice Comer) and Sam (Theo Reid), and his blacksmith, Clayton, (Jedidiah Goodacre). Despite the precariousness of the situation, Rebecca finds a community and seizes on the titular hope. Maybe this wasn’t what she had planned, but maybe it’ll be something better.
The pilot also introduces a Mountie (of course), in Alexander Vaughn (Lachlan Quarmby), who’s fresh off graduating at the top of his class and dispatched to keep the peace and uphold the law in the territory referred to as “gold country.”
While period westerns are always around in TV and film, and continue to be popular, many of the stories veer darker, leaning into the hardships of the time. All that to say, the story of a woman and her daughter crossing the country alone would have a thousand red flags anywhere else. Here, we know it will be a kinder, gentler story, which we can use right now.
Hope Valley: 1874 is Lenz’s first foray back into a regular series role since One Tree Hill, and she’s not just onscreen. That’s her voice you hear on the theme song, which she also wrote. She plays Rebecca as a woman who probably hasn’t exhaled in a long while, and when she finally does, you see some, but not yet all, of her worry let go. Ayres is more serious than we’re used to, and we sense there’s more to come about his story and his solitude. Tom finds a friendly foil in Rebecca. They might not always agree with each other, but they share a mutual respect and concern.
I’m a longtime fan of Hennessy back to another mothership, the OG Law & Order, and then Crossing Jordan. I love having her on TV in a series role. Also look for familiar #CdnTV folks like Ryan Robbins and Hallmarkies Matreya Scarrwener and Grayson Maxwell Gurnsey among the recurring cast.
I am admittedly not a full-blooded Heartie so I can’t tell you, beyond one thing I actually recognized, whether the series will regularly hat tip current WCTH characters, but I can’t see them wasting the opportunity for wink here and a nod there. Mike Rohl directs the first episode, written by series creator Alfonso H. Moreno.
Hope Valley: 1874 premieres the first episode of its eight-episode season Saturday, March 21st, at 3:01 am/2:01c on Hallmark+, with the rest of the episodes premiering every Thursday at 3:01 am/2:01c. Here’s a sneak peek.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Weddell for Hallmark Media; video courtesy of Hallmark Media.
