'When Calls the Heart' Fans Are Begging for Jack to "Come Back" to the Show

From Good Housekeeping

• Daniel Lissing, who played Jack on When Calls the Heart, left the show after five seasons.
  

• Fans are still heartbroken after his character's tragic death in the season 5 finale.

• While the rest of the cast remain supportive of Lissing's decision, fans are hopeful that his time in Hope Valley isn't up yet.

Hope Valley has seen a lot of changes throughout When Calls the Heart's seven (soon to be, eight) seasons. Since the show first debuted in 2014, there have been character exits, scrapped storylines, and a confusing love triangle that is still keeping fans on their toes. But still, Jack Thornton's death at the end of season five remains one of the most talked-about moments — albeit, three years later.

Daniel Lissing, the actor who played Jack, made the decision to part with When Calls the Heart at the start of season five, citing on a Facebook Live that "circumstances arose for me where I needed to leave." Both Hallmark Channel and the rest of the cast were "nothing but supportive," so they made sure to give his character the closure that he deserved. In the season five finale episode, Jack was tragically killed by a landslide while on an assignment with a group of recruits. Right before he left, he wrote a letter to his wife Elizabeth (played by Erin Krakow) because he feared what the assignment would entail. It read:

Since then, the people of Hope Valley continue to bring up Jack, reminding fans of the true love there once was. For that reason, many are still hopeful that Jack will somehow make a return — as a ghost, in a flashback scene, or some other way that's deemed appropriate. On one of Erin's recent Instagram posts with her co-star Pascale Hutton, fans expressed just how much they missed the former mountie.

Some mentioned how Elizabeth and Jack's romance was leagues beyond anything she's experienced with Nathan or Lucas, the two men she is currently deciding between. "Everyone wants Jack back. He is the heart of WCTH with Erin Krakow ... one of those fiction couples you cannot forget," someone commented. "I don’t care how they do it, but Jack needs to come back. His 'married to Elizabeth' time was too short. It was definitely a shocker," one wrote.

Other Hearties reminded fans that the most recent season had a number of mounties — Nathan, especially — who were alive and well. "Daniel Lissing chose to move on and isn't coming back except for maybe in a flashback. We all need to move forward and enjoy our new characters and storylines," one wrote. "Jack will not come back. Maybe in Elizabeth's dream. He is dead — and he (Dan) chose to leave the show. Forget him. We have a great mountie now — Nathan," another person echoed.

Although Elizabeth has set her sights on someone new (whether it's Lucas or Nathan, that's up for debate), Erin still misses working with Daniel just as much (if not more) as fans miss Jack. Shortly after his departure, she reflected with Entertainment Tonight about what his exit meant for the show — and more importantly, her: "I was just sad that Dan was leaving. That's the bottom line: We were all really sad about it, and that's hard," she reflected. "Dan, in many ways, has been my partner in crime for five years, and one of my greatest scene partners ever, and I'm just really gonna miss him."

But hey, at least there's a glimmer of hope that Jack may return in an episode or two. As a ghost who haunts Hope Valley, perhaps?

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