‘Heartland’: Amber Marshall Says the Pandemic Added to the ‘Darkness’ of Season 14
Heartland premiered on CBC in 2007, and the show is currently filming its 16th season. Amber Marshall has been playing Amy Fleming on Heartland since the TV show premiered. In season 14 of Heartland, the show went through a major change when a main character died. In an interview with the Hallmarkies Podcast, Marshall shared that she thinks the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic also contributed to the “darkness” of season 14 of Heartland.
Graham Wardle stopped playing Ty in season 14 of ‘Heartland’
Heartland takes place on Heartland Ranch, a farm that belongs to Amy’s family. On the show, Amy works with traumatized horses through natural horsemanship.
Ty Borden (Graham Wardle) is Amy’s main love interest on Heartland. At the start of the series, he is a ranch hand at Heartland Ranch. He then goes on to become a veterinarian.
Amy and Ty get married and have a daughter named Lyndy (Ruby and Emmanuella Spencer). After 13 seasons, Wardle made the decision to leave Heartland.
To write off Wardle’s character, Ty died from complications of a gunshot wound in the opening of the season 14 premiere.
Amber Marshall thinks season 14 of ‘Heartland’ was ‘depressing’
Recently, Marshall was interviewed by the Hallmarkies Podcast about her time on Heartland. In the interview, Marshall admitted that season 14 of Heartland “was very depressing.”
“Season 14 was very depressing. I have to say. There’s an event that happens, which I’m sure you’re aware of, that just shattered the Heartland family. And it kind of tore us up a little bit too because this is a character that’s been with all of us for 14 years, 13 years,” Marshall said.
Because of how coronavirus restrictions impacted filming, Marshall thinks a timely “darkness” was brought to the show.
“And so I just remember 14 – and season 14 was also the first year that COVID presented itself and that we were under very strict guidelines and restrictions that we had to do to complete the show. So it was this kind of a very strange vibe in 14. And it went really well with what was happening onscreen,” Marshall said on the Hallmarkies Podcast.
She continued, “I have to say, if timing could have worked out any better I don’t know where because it was just this darkness that was put on the season.”
The show’s upcoming season will feel different for fans
Season 16 of Heartland will premiere on CBC on Oct. 2. Speaking with the Hallmarkies Podcast, Marshall reassured fans of the long-running show that the new season of Heartland will feel like earlier seasons.
“And then 16 which we’re now just filming, has been just so much fun. It’s been one of those, it’s like ‘OK so now we’re two years out of the darkness.’ And now all the characters are really starting to just find themselves again,” Marshall said. “It feels like we’re kind of back to that Heartland that I think we all know and love.”
