Lori Loughlin could be headed back to the Hallmark Channel series When Calls the Heart, which she was written off of four years ago in the fallout of her college admissions scandal.
Loughlin, 59, who served almost two months in prison for her involvement in the admission scheme, played the role of Abigail Stanton over 56 episodes from 2014-2019, but writers directed the character’s storyline off camera amid her criminal charges.
Loughlin’s potential return to the TV series was discussed by the show’s co-creator Brian Bird earlier this month on the show-based podcast Heart to Hearties, as he was noncommittal about the actress coming back, but implied things are moving in the right direction.
‘Well, this is a tricky question and what I can say is that there are good conversations happening,’ Bird said. ‘We can’t guarantee anything, but there are good conversations happening around this topic.’
Bird said that the Full House actress, who played Rebecca ‘Aunt Becky’ Katsopolis on the ABC comedy and its Netflix reboot, has been ‘doing really good’ as she rebuilds her life nearly three years removed from her stint in custody.
The latest: Lori Loughlin, 59, could be headed back to the Hallmark Channel series When Calls the Heart, which she was written off of four years ago in the fallout of her college admissions scandal. Pictured last month in LA
Loughlin played the role of Abigail Stanton over 56 episodes from 2014-2019
‘She’s assured us that she has found some peace and she’s made it through her ordeal her and her husband’s ordeal,’ Bird said, ‘and she’s in a much better place than she was.’
Bird referenced the show’s storyline home base in making clear that Loughlin’s past legal troubles were not a factor in a potential return to the series.
‘Our attitude always has been you know as the producing team around the writing team around When Calls the Heart that what better place for second chances than Hope Valley,’ Bird said. ‘And so in theory, it should work, right?
‘But again, can’t … fully promise it, but we’re working on it.’
Amid the show’s sixth season in 2019, the storyline called for Loughlin’s character to move east to help take care of her ailing mom.
Loughlin has worked with the franchise again following her prison release, on two episodes of the show’s spinoff When Hope Calls in December of 2021. She also starred in the TV film Fall Into Winter earlier this year for the Great American Family channel.
Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, 60, were indicted in 2019 in connection with allegations they paid admissions fixer Rick Singer $500,000 to arrange for the University of Southern California to recruit their daughters Isabella Rose, 25, and Olivia Jade, 24, onto the school’s rowing team, despite that they had no background in the sport.
In May of 2020, the celeb couple pleaded guilty in connection with conspiracy charges in the case. Loughlin received a two-month jail sentence along with a fine of $150,000 and 150 hours of community service following the guilty plea. She began her sentence at a federal prison in Dublin, California in October of 2020 and was released that December.
In March of 2019, The Hallmark Channel said it was severing ties with the actress amid her legal woes
The channel also said that Loughlin’s legal woes would not jeopardize When Calls the Heart
Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli were snapped leaving court in Boston in April of 2019
Giannulli received a five-month sentence with a fine of $250,000 and 250 hours of community service. He began his prison sentence in November of 2020 and was transferred to home confinement in April of 2021, about a month before his sentence ended.
Professionally, Loughlin’s legal troubles kept her sidelined from Fuller House’s fifth season and her return to the small screen came late last year appearing on a two-part Christmas special for the spinoff series When Hope Calls.
She appeared on her first red carpet in the wake of the scandal in June of 2022, as she was at RJ’s Place for the DesignCare 2022 Gala, benefitting the HollyRod Foundation.
