5 When Calls The Heart Characters We Hope Return To The Show

"When Calls the Heart" has been charming Hallmarkies ever since the series premiere in January 2014. Fans have seen many characters pass through the small western Canadian town of Hope Valley over the years, and although some have seemingly left for good, their mark can still be felt on the show seasons later, and we're desperate for them to come back. 

It's easy to root for Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow) as she begins her new life teaching children in Hope Valley after a coal mining accident devastated the town and tore families apart. Compared to the town's residents, she seems like a clueless, wealthy, eastern snob, especially because her father insisted that a Mountie, Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing), be stationed there to look after her.

But Elizabeth eventually helps the town find its heartbeat again. She quickly becomes friends with a widow who lost both her husband and her son in the tragedy, Abigail Stanton (Lori Loughlin). She even eventually becomes friends with Jack's ex-fiancée, Rosemary LeVeaux (Pascale Hutton) after she comes to town trying to rekindle her relationship with her former beau. 

Elizabeth and Rosemary (who has since married) have become quite the team over the course of the show. It makes sense, as they have watched many friends and neighbors leave Hope Valley for bigger opportunities or because of tragic circumstances. Here are the five residents and friends of Hope Valley who are at the top of our wishlist to return.

Spoiler alert: Elizabeth's first husband, Jack Thornton, is dead. That's right, she falls in love with the Mountie tasked with keeping her safe in Hope Valley. Soon after they marry in Season 5, Jack dies in a landslide accident off-screen, sacrificing his life while on a mission training other Mounties. Daniel Lissing told Entertainment Tonight that he left the series for "very personal" reasons that he did not elaborate on, adding that Hallmark was supportive of his decision. 

On-screen, Elizabeth (who finds out she was pregnant with Jack's baby soon after his death) has moved on with another Mountie, Nathan Grant (Kevin McGarry), and the couple gets engaged on the Season 13 finale. Audiences can't control the decisions actors and producers make about TV shows. But that doesn't change the fact that Krakow and Lissing had such strong chemistry that when Lissing left "When Calls the Heart" for the last time, the show lost an essential piece of its identity that neither Grant nor McGarry could bring back. If Lissing were to return as the ghost of Jack, for even one episode to get a look at how much his son has grown, some of that initial magic would return.

Cody Stanton's (Carter Ryan) story begins in Season 3 when he and his older sister Becky (Ali Skovbye) are orphaned after their parents die in an accident. The siblings hide in the woods, but Becky is sick, so Cody steals food for her from Abigail's cafe. When Abigail catches Cody, she and Elizabeth find Becky in the woods and call for the doctor. Eventually, Abigail adopts Becky and Cody. 

Becky eventually goes to live with her aunt and attend college while Cody stays with Abigail and becomes one of the central figures in Elizabeth's classroom. Sadly, Ryan's time on the show was cut short as an unfortunate consequence of Loughlin's involvement in the college admissions scandal. Cody is last seen taking advantage of his friend Timmy (Christian Michael Cooper) while playing pirates with Robert (Jaiven Natt). But Elizabeth steps in and teaches Timmy to stand up for himself and demand that his friends include him and help him find a lost item. Off-screen, Cody has to join Abigail in leaving Hope Valley to go tend to her sick mother. 

About two years after leaving Hope Valley, Abigail and Cody return to the fictional "When Calls the Heart" universe in "When Hope Calls Christmas." In the spin-off's Christmas special, they visit Brookfield to drop off a boy at the orphanage and participate in the town's Christmas festivities. Although he'd be a young man now, Cody was such a big presence in Hope Valley that it'd be nice for fans to get an update on his life in the town where his story began.

Clara Stanton (Eva Bourne) arrives in Hope Valley in Season 2 of "When Calls the Heart" as the secret widow of Abigail's son, Peter, who died in the mining accident before the series began. The couple was married just days before the tragedy, but Clara originally stays in Hope Valley to bond with her mother-in-law. Meanwhile, Jesse Flynn (Aren Buchholz) arrives in Season 3 as an outlaw trying to get Pastor Frank (Mark Humphrey) to revisit his criminal past and join a heist. While in town, he flirts with Clara, who eventually convinces him to stay in Hope Valley and give up his criminal ways. By the end of Season 8, they are a married couple and an integral part of the town. That season, Jesse goes missing when his car gets stuck in a storm while he's on a work trip. He returns safely in the season finale and is given time off work to go on a second honeymoon. In Season 9, viewers are told the couple has relocated to Montana. 

It's unclear why Bourne and Buchholz left the show beyond the explanation given about their characters on-screen. But, it would be nice to have the Flynns back, even just to learn if their family has grown. Jesse and Clara's romance is a secondary storyline throughout the series, but they add a fresh, young, and occasionally rebellious energy to the show that is essential and would be nice to revisit.  

Elizabeth's younger sister Julie Thatcher (Charlotte Hegele) is a wonderful occasional visitor to Hope Valley. After Elizabeth's trip home, Julie starts popping up in town here and there, whether for Little Jack's christening, or to interrogate her sister's now ex-fiancé Lucas Bouchard (Chris McNally). And who can forget the time she stayed in Hope Valley to be Elizabeth's teaching apprentice only to realize she's an artist who needs to go off to London for art school?

Elizabeth is a bit of a rebel with a dash of mischief and naiveté on top. She's the "middlewoman" between Elizabeth and the rest of her family — always game to join in her off-screen mother's mission to get Elizabeth back east, while at the same time understanding Elizabeth's desire to live a simple life in Hope Valley. Julie visits in Season 10, Episode 2, "Hope Springs," when she's trying to get Elizabeth and Lucas to get married back east. She also tells Elizabeth that their father wants her to go to law school. One of her final lines on the episode is about the possibility of pursuing both careers. If anyone could do that, it would be Julie, and it would be fun to see if she achieved her goal. 

Plus, of Elizabeth's immediate family back east (which also includes her parents and another sister), Julie has appeared on the show most often. Although Elizabeth's journey in Hope Valley has been quite clear, her lack of communication with family can sometimes feel like a huge plot hole, even though the show is currently set in the 1920s. 

Fiona Miller (Kayla Wallace) has one of the more unique and groundbreaking stories among the women on "When Calls the Heart." She's introduced in Season 6 as an operator sent by the telephone company to get the latest communication device up and running in Hope Valley. She ends up staying, and by Season 8, she's purchased a barbershop because — as she eventually tells friends — it's a place where men discuss business. Although Fiona has romantic storylines here and there, they never amount to anything. It's not explicitly said, but her actions show that she's too busy working to play romantic games with men. She's even involved in deals for the oil company before eventually producing radio shows with Rosemary. 

Fiona's storyline gets a little bit disjointed when she's largely absent from Season 11 and gets involved in the suffragist movement with her sister (Wallace got a role on "Landman"). She returns in the Season 11 finale, later helps develop the radio in Hope Valley, and almost leaves to marry a man in Season 12. True to form, when an opportunity pops up in her final episode to continue a career in radio, she chooses herself over a man and drives out of Hope Valley.

No matter the reason Wallace left "When Calls the Heart" a second time, Fiona's presence will always be welcome in Hope Valley. It could be argued that most women in town are at least a little bit rebellious, but Fiona is the most unapologetic about focusing on her future over family.