Beloved Full House actress Lori Loughlin is having a big month.
Not only is she reprising her famous role of Aunt Becky in the much anticipated Full House reboot coming to Netflix on Feb. 26, her fan-favorite Hallmark series When Calls the Heart returns for its third season this weekend.
While Loughlin revisits familiar stomping grounds in Fuller House, she gets to explore family dynamics in a new way in the period drama When Calls the Heart.
Based on a series of best-selling books, When Calls the Heart follows the trials and triumphs of a close-knit community in a small, coal-mining town in 1910. Loughlin plays Abigail, a wife and mother who lost her husband and only son in a coal-mining accident.
In Season 3, Abigail’s faith and trust are tested as she begins caring for a young orphaned boy in need of a mother and pursues a relationship with Frank Hogan, the town’s pastor.
“It was an idea that I’d had from the first season and I kept bugging everybody about it,” Loughlin jokes to Guideposts.org about her character finally healing from Season 1’s tragic losses. “I think [Abigail as a potential mother and wife again] it just adds another dimension to the character.”
Loughlin is also thrilled the series is getting back to its roots. While the actress loved the value placed on community, friendship and triumphing over tragedy in the show’s first season, she admits Season 2 became a bit muddled thanks to all of the competing love-triangle drama between a few of the show’s main characters.
“I thought we made some really nice changes and we made the show a little bit more upbeat and happier,” Loughlin says of Season 2. “But I felt like we got lost in all these romance triangles and those aren’t nearly as interesting as stories about this community. I think Season 3 we have a really good mix of both. I think it’s just so much richer.”
For Loughlin, the show isn’t just another period drama, it’s become a way to connect with people all over the world.
The series boasts one of the most dedicated fan bases of any show on television. Dubbing themselves #Hearties on social media, fans actively live-tweet the show, making sure it’s trending every week. They hold conventions, visit the set regularly and are partly responsible for its sophomore pick-up.
After the series’ first season, Loughlin admits they didn’t know if Hallmark would ask them to return. It was the show’s fans who proved the deciding factor.
“They all got together, from all over the US, and they wrote to the president of Hallmark,” Loughlin says. “They sent all of these hearts that they’d each made and then they linked them together so that it was just a chain of endless hearts with people’s names and what city they were from and they sent them all to Hallmark, boxes and boxes of chains of hearts and that just went on forever.
She says it’s that passion that makes her eager to show up on set every day.
“They’re the most wonderful fan club in the world.” Loughlin says. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my career.”
Season 3 of When Calls the Heart premieres Feb. 21st at 9 p.m. on Hallmark.
