Hallmark/Heavy Who was behind that Nathan shirtless scene?
In season 11 episode 3 of “When Calls the Heart,” viewers were surprised to see Nathan (played by Kevin McGarry) in a shirtless scene. The scene went viral on social media, as fans reacted to the scene where Elizabeth (played by Erin Krakow) walked into the Mountie office and found Nathan changing shirts. Now, a Hallmark screenwriter has revealed the mastermind behind the viral scene, and a key part to the scene that fans didn’t see.
The Episode’s Screenwriter Came Up With the Idea for the Shirtless Scene
In an interview with the Official Hearties Admins, “When Calls the Heart” writer Allie Devereaux talked about season 11 episode 3, including the viral shirtless Nathan scene. The subject of the Nathan scene came up around the 27-minute mark into the interview. One of the hosts asked Devereaux who came up with the idea for the scene.
“Guilty, guilty,” Devereaux admitted. “To be honest, I’m surprised it stayed in. I did pitch it thinking, we got some room to play this season and we were sort of pitching out ideas. And I thought, ‘What if she walks in on him and he doesn’t have a shirt on?’ And that’s where it came. And people were like, ‘How would that look?’ And so that’s what it it ended up being. But it was so fun and they played it so well and it was way better than we ever thought it could be. So I’m glad it’s stuck, but I was surprised that it did.”
The Scene Originally Explained Why Nathan Had to Change His Shirt
There was actually more to the scene than viewers got to see in the episode, Devereaux revealed in her interview. There was another part to the scene that showed why Nathan was changing his shirt when Elizabeth walked in.
Devereaux recalled about the scene: “Actually, there was originally part of that scene where it was water on his shirt that Scout spilt. But we didn’t get all the way through that… We did it in our own Hope Valley way.”
They also touched on other parts of the episode, like Elizabeth seeking to be Lucas’ friend, and how that dynamic might play out since they had never truly been “just friends” before.
“From the beginning was pretty clear, Lucas had feelings for Elizabeth when he met her,” Devereaux said. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends now. I think we’re going to see, even some in this episode and continuously, that this season has moments of Elizabeth and Lucas seeing that friendship develop. But it’s kind of interesting because it’s a friendship developing where they didn’t really have that before. We didn’t have much time where they were strictly friends, so we get to see that now. So just sort of setting up that sort of new relationship for them.”
Around 40 minutes into the interview, they also touched on Jeanette’s arrival in the next episode and what we can expect from her.
“Definitely she brings tension, which for us as writers makes her a super fun character,” Devereaux said. “But she’s also very complicated. She’s been talked and talked and talked about, and as we’ve seen, she’s not the easiest woman to track down. She’s a bit slippery and figuring out where she’s been and what she’s doing. So you know, I think without saying too much, I think you can just expect to be surprised by Jeanette. Just prepare yourselves to be surprised by Jeanette… Expect the unexpected with her.”
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