‘When Calls the Heart’ prequel ‘Hope Valley: 1874’ is an ‘a little bit of an escape,’ says star

Hope Valley: 1874, the prequel series to When Calls the Heart, premieres Saturday on Hallmark+, and star Jill Hennessy thinks it provides “a little bit of an escape.”

Hope Valley: 1874 follows Rebecca Clarke and her daughter, who settle in a Western Canadian frontier town where Hennessy’s character, Hattie Quinn, runs the trading post. “She’s sort of the go-between and the hub of all these people,” Hennessy tells ABC Audio of Hattie, who’s a widow and single mother.

“She’s sorta used to living on her own, but deeply afraid of her daughter moving off, trying not to confront how scared she is: ‘Oh my gosh, but what will I do when she leaves me?'”

Hennessy says Hope Valley will please When Calls the Heart fans aka Hearties, while offering some key differences.

“In this show, I think they’re gonna get all of the warmth and the romance aspect, in a structure, though, that goes a little broader, can be a little darker, a little more gritty,” she explains.

She adds that the series has “a lot of focus on women’s relationships, and women and men in a friendship/survival kind of way, where there’s no competition, there’s no bitterness, and people are just trying to make it through the day.”

Hennessy, a veteran of shows like Law & Order, Crossing Jordan and Yellowstone, says there’s a “sweetness” to Hope Valley, which she says is “so nice to go to … with everything that’s happening in the world.”

“Even as an actor … it’s kind of nice to get there, and put on the petticoat and the corset, and work with nice people,” she adds. “This is just one of the nicest casts. It is very appealing. It’s a nice — how can I say? — a little bit of an escape.”