Lori Loughlin Credits Hallmark Fans for Her ‘Garage Sale Mysteries,’ ‘When Calls the Heart’ Comeback: ‘They Heard You’
More than seven years after Hallmark Channel cut ties with Lori Loughlin due to her involvement in the college admissions scandal, the Full House star is making a triumphant return to the network.
Loughlin will rejoin the cast of When Calls the Heart in its upcoming 14th season, as her Abigail Stanton character makes her way back to Hope Valley. And this September, the long-dormant Garage Sale Mysteries series gets a new movie, with Loughlin once again stepping into the role of antique dealer with a knack for finding deals – and clues to crimes – as she hunts for garage sale bargains. It’s all thanks to the actor’s loyal fans, she said, who never gave up on her even as she navigated her legal drama and prison stint.
Lori Loughlin spent two months in prison for role in college admissions scam
Loughlin’s downfall began in the spring of 2019, when she and dozens of other wealthy parents were charged with paying brides to get their kids admitted to elite colleges.
Loughlin and her fashion designer husband paid $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as fake crew team recruits, even though neither girl had experience in the sport. In May 2020, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Later that year, she began serving a two-month sentence in federal prison. Giannulli served five months.
The Operation Varsity Blues scandal upended Loughlin’s career. Within days of her arrest, Hallmark pulled When Calls the Heart off the air and edited her out of the remaining season 6 episodes. It also canceled Garage Sale Mysteries. In addition, she lost her role as Aunty Becky on Netflix’s Full House reboot Fuller House.
‘When Calls the Heart’ star makes Hallmark comeback
After her release from prison in late 2020, Loughlin initially stayed under the radar. In 2021, she returned to the screen with a small role as Abigail Stanton in the When Hope Calls Christmas special for Great American Family. While When Hope Calls is a When Calls the Heart spinoff, it airs on a rival network. At the time, Hallmark made it clear that it had no intention of working with Loughlin or bringing her back to When Calls the Heart.
Loughlin went on to star in two made-for-TV movies for Great American Family over the next few years, Blessings of Christmas and Fall Into Winter. She also appeared in episodes of Blue Bloods and Curb Your Enthusiasm and played a police officer in Prime Video’s gritty police drama On Call in 2025. Now, she’s made her way back into the Hallmark fold, due in large part to her fans.
“I would just like to say to the fans, thank you for your support over the years, it really means a lot. And thank you for championing my coming back because they heard you and I appreciate that,” Loughlin said of her When Calls the Heart return at the premiere of Hope Valley 1874 earlier this year (via KATV).
As for what it was like to step back on set? “It was very emotional,” Loughlin said. “First of all the cast is like my family, and it was just so special to come back to the show. To go back to that set is going to be amazing, I love where we shoot and I’m over the moon, I’m so happy.”
Fans are happy as well. In mid-August, Hallmark revealed the trailer for the first Garage Sale Mysteries in several years.
“So excited for this!” one person commented on Instagram.
“CAN’T WAIT!!!” another wrote. “One of my all time favorite mystery series!!!”
“I’ve missed this series,” someone else chimed in. “Glad to see it, and especially Lori back again.”
Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage airs Saturday, September 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel. Streaming the next day on Hallmark+. When Calls the Heart Season 14 premieres in 2027.
For more news and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.
