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What do you do when your show’s leading man decides to move on? The When Calls the Heart team was faced with that question several years ago when star Daniel Lissing revealed that he wanted to move on from the Hallmark Channel series. 

Jack Thornton died in ‘When Calls the Heart’ Season 5 

Daniel Lissing wearing red Mountie uniform in 'When Calls the Heart' Season 5
Jack Wagner and Daniel Lissing in ‘When Calls the Heart’ | Copyright 2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ricardo Hubbs

Once they learned of Lissing’s decision to leave the show, the When Calls the Heart writers came up with a solution to explain the absence of Lissing’s Jack Thornton character. They killed off Jack, who ended up dying in a tragic mine collapse accident at the end of season 5. It was a devasting blow for Jack’s new wife Elizabeth (Erin Krakow), who gave birth to the couple’s first child not long after his death. 

Jack’s death was also a gut punch for the show’s fans, who’d followed his and Elizabeth’s slow-burning romance since season 1. While Elizabeth has since moved with saloon owner Lucas Bouchard (Chris McNally), some fans are still mourning the loss of Jack, even though it happened more than four years ago. But according to When Calls the Heart creator Brian Bird, the painful moment was essential if the show wanted to move forward after Lissing’s exit. 

Brain Bird says there was really only one way to deal with Daniel Lissing’s departure 

Earlier this year, Bird appeared on the Hearties Hotline podcast (via YouTube). He addressed the difficult choice that had to be made when Lissing announced he planned to leave the show. 

“We had to give the audience a catharsis at the end of season 5,” he said. “Any other choice, the Hearties would have hated us. I know they would have.”

While there were several other directions the writers could have taken Jack and Elizabeth’s story, all had major drawbacks. 

“If Jack had broken up with Elizabeth, they would have hated Dan. And they would have hated us, the writers, the producers,” he said. “If Elizabeth had broken up with him, they would have hated Erin for that. If his Mountie duty was more important than marrying Elizabeth, if he’d gone off and taken another job somewhere, they would have hated us. There just was absolutely no other good solution.”

One possible option was never on the table: finding another actor to take over the Jack role. “Recasting was never a factor,” Bird said. 

Jack did return in the ‘When Hope Calls’ Christmas special 

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‘When Calls the Heart’ Star Erin Krakow Reveals She Still Talks to Daniel Lissing

Though some When Calls the Heart fans have concocted theories that would allow for Lissing’s return to the series, Bird says there’s no question that Jack is dead. 

“They didn’t bury an empty casket at the end of season 5,” he said. “All the narratives that come up where people say ‘Oh, you know, it was mistaken identity, or he was mangled in the cave-in … maybe he’ll have amnesia and he’ll show up’” are simply false, he added.

However, Lissing did don Jack’s Mountie uniform one more time for the When Hope Calls Christmas special, which aired in December 2021. His character made a brief appearance in a dream sequence in the When Calls the Heart spinoff series, where he delivered a special message to Elizabeth’s friend Abigail (Lori Loughlin).

“Abigail, can you get a message to Elizabeth for me?” Jack said. “Will you let her know that I’m happy she’s moving on with her life? And let her know that she’s doing a fine job with Little Jack and I could not be prouder of both of them.”  

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