Exclusive: Skyler Samuels Says She ‘Stumbled Through’ Shooting New Mysteries

Heavy/Hallmark Skyler Samuels, star of Hallmark's new "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries" movies

As Hallmark premieres the first of two new “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries” on October 3, 2024 — available to stream via Hallmark+ — star Skyler Samuels says she’ll never forget the experience because it was her first time back to work since she became a mom — and her infant came along for the ride.

As Samuels adjusted to being a working mom, she told Heavy exclusively, she felt like she “stumbled all the way through” the shoot, juggling filming the movies back-to-back while taking breaks to feed and bond with her little one, whose name and gender she’s chosen not to reveal.

“Just a working mom who’s, you know, putting the ‘Aurora’ wig on and running around solving crimes, but also, like, having to take breaks to go pump and then feed the baby,” Samuels laughed, “and then come back to set, and just, juggle all these all day jobs. Mom job, actor job — they’re both full time.”

Skyler Samuels Says There Were ‘Babies Everywhere’ on the Set of New Movies

Thankfully, Samuels told Heavy, she felt surrounded by support on the Hallmark shoot — commiserating with other parents on the set including director Jessica Harmon, who was expecting her first child during the shoot, and cinematographer Will McKnight, whose wife gave birth four days before filming started.

“It was just like babies everywhere,” Samuels recalled, laughing. “But I think this year’s experience will always be pretty special because it was this, like, unique moment where everyone was coming into parenthood at the same time and it was very exciting.”

But Samuels said she also leaned on cast and crew who were more experienced parents and had been in her shoes.

“It’s just it’s really also helpful being in such a diverse environment because you’ve got this cross section of people who all have figured this out in one way or another,” she said. “So I’ve really gotten to wean advice from all the people, like, ‘What did you do when you went back to work? Or how did that work when you had to travel with them internationally? You did this or you did that?’ And it’s just so helpful, because no one really knows — there’s no rules. So getting help from, you know, other parents who are more seasoned was really very helpful and encouraging.”

Samuels also shared how grateful she was for Hallmark’s support and flexibility, telling Heavy, “I mean, they really are remarkably supportive. And I think a lot of (companies) will say that they are, but then you realize, ‘No, maybe not!’ In the case with Hallmark, they really were so supportive … and just, the ethos in general is very family oriented.”

“They want their actors to able to do both things,” she said of juggling acting and parenthood. “You know, they know that we love our jobs, and I really love doing the ‘Aurora’ series, and I also really love being a mom.”

“I had no idea what that was going to look like going back to work and building these odd hours,” Samuels continued, “and then having this human who’s on a completely different schedule than the filming schedule. But they were so supportive and definitely helped me figure it out as I kind of stumbled all the way through.”

Skyler Samuels Got Sage Parenting Advice From Co-Star Marilu Henner

HallmarkSkyler Samuels and Marilu Henner in “Aurora Teagarden: A Lesson in Murder”

Packing for a multi-week shoot with a baby was its own challenge, Samuels told Heavy, who had family along with her to help. But she recalled some sage advice she got from co-star Marilu Henner, who starred in the original “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries” with Candace Cameron Bure and also appears in the new prequel movies, in which Samuels plays a young Aurora.

Samuels told Heavy, “I was trying my best to figure out, like, what is this going to look like? I have to have a mobile version of everything — babies do not travel light! Marilu Henner, who plays my mom in the ‘Aurora’ series, she goes, ‘Just remember the first two years, you’re just a roadie with stuff everywhere. That’s what you do. You know, she was talking about her sons and when she went back to work and she’s like, “That’s just what you do!'”

“She loved meeting the baby and all the babies,” Samuels recalled of Henner, who wrote a best-selling parenting book in 1999, “I Refuse to Raise a Brat,” when she was raising her own sons.

“I mean, like I said, there’s babies everywhere you turned on that set,” Samuels laughed. “And you know, she’s got parenting books that she’s written over the years and has all kinds of pearls of wisdom to share with was very nice.”

“Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Lesson in Murder” is available to stream on Hallmark+ starting October 3, and “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Death at the Diner” will be available to stream starting October 10. Meanwhile, the first of the “Aurora Teagarden” prequels, 2023’s “Something New,” is now available to watch for free via YouTube.