Crown Media When Calls the Heart
The showrunner for Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart, John Tinker, and his wife, Ronda Rich, answer questions from fans every week on Facebook. Last week, Tinker dropped a hint about a surprise in the Season 8 finale that fans are really going to enjoy. Months earlier, creator Brian Bird also dropped hints about the finale.
The Season 8 Finale Is Going to Be an Extra-Long Episode
We still have some time before the When Calls the Heart Season 8 finale. Episode 4 just aired, and this season is going to have a total of 12 episodes. The two extra episodes were added to the lineup in order to help make up for not having a Christmas special in 2020, creator Brian Bird shared on Twitter.
However, we’re already getting some hints about what to expect, and one of those hints is that the final episode is going to be extra long.
In a Q&A on Facebook with his wife last week, Tinker revealed the good news while talking about how tough it is to delete scenes sometimes.
Tinker said in the video: “We asked Hallmark if we could extend the length of that final episode… So the last episode is a little longer than usual…”
His wife also commented (around 23:46 in the video above) about how tough it is sometimes for Tinker to cut scenes, especially for the finale. She said he was just pacing the floor about deciding what to cut, because every scene felt so important.
“I would that we could have used that in the show It’s a really nice scene when she comes into town having heroically rescued Robert… And in particular Nathan… We’re still trying to see if we can show you those deleted scenes… Fewer and fewer of those as we move on with the season.”
Tinker added that among the cut scenes we’ve already missed was one that showed people — including Nathan — applauding for Elizabeth after she saved Robert.
“I would that we could have used that in the show,” he said. “It’s a really nice scene when she comes into town having heroically rescued Robert… We’re still trying to see if we can show you those deleted scenes…”
When asked if any of those deleted scenes might make it onto the DVD, he said: “If they’ve been included in the past, I would say yes. If they haven’t been included in the past, I will press for them to be included.”
Brian Bird Teased a Shocking Surprise in the Finale
Creator Brian Bird dropped his own hint about the finale in October 2020, noting that it’s something fans won’t see coming.
He wrote: “Um #Hearties I just read this and had to invent a new acronym… ROFG, which now stands for “‘Rolling On Floor GASPING.’ You won’t see this S8 finale script for When Calls the Heart coming. I don’t really know what else to say except for there’s a reason why we invited writer John Tinker to Hope Valley and this is it.”
He didn’t give any more details than that, but fans have been trying to guess what he was talking about for quite some time.