‘When Calls the Heart’ Aftershow: What’s Next for the Choir & Season 11 Finale ‘Surprises’ (VIDEO)

Avery Thompson May 26, 2024, 10:00 pm

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for When Calls the Heart Season 11 Episode 8 “Brother’s Keeper.”]

The choir unites to help other communities who were swindled out of their money by music publisher J.B. Sweeney in the May 26 episode of When Calls the Heart. Florence (Loretta Walsh), Molly (Johannah Newmarch), Elizabeth (Erin Krakow), Rosemary (Pascale Hutton), and more members of Hope Valley help create the first-ever Voices of the Valley festival. Florence and Ned (Hrothgar Mathews) team up for a special duet and the choir blesses the crowd with a touching performance.

“For me, it was just like, here’s what our town does the best, which is these wonderful, heartfelt community events,” Newmarch said during TV Insider’s weekly When Calls the Heart aftershow, Heart Beats. “Obviously with this one, the stakes were high, so that was a nice undercurrent of tension and drama. As Florence’s best friend, it’s so fun for Molly and the audience, too. I love that layering of Florence’s character because she has a side that can be a little persnickety or slightly tightly wound. I love that of all the people, she’s the singer and dancer. I just think that’s such a marvelous shading to the character. Their little duet, the whole thing is just adorable.”

This music-heavy episode will likely have Hearties wondering about a possible musical episode of When Calls the Heart in the future. “Everybody seems to have real musical abilities,” Walsh noted. “We have some incredible singers and musicians and dancers on the show, so I think it would be fantastic to do a musical episode or musical movie.”

The Hope Valley choir faced an unexpected obstacle in the prior episode. When Tom Thornton (Max Lloyd-Jones) circled back into town, he got the choir’s hopes up about a festival in Salt Lake City. Both Tom and the entire choir were conned out of their money by Sweeney. The choir refused to wallow in their misfortune and won’t be holding a grudge against Tom.

“I think that’s where the Hope Valley residents really thrive, is coming together and making a solution that everybody can be happy with,” Walsh said. “They’re very quick to forgive. When somebody makes a mistake in Hope Valley, we really choose to see the best in that person.”

After the success of the Voices of the Valley festival, Newmarch teased that “seeds have been planted” for more choir content moving forward. “Who knows what Season 12 will bring for our choir performances. Maybe we’ve got the showbiz bug, and we’re going to be ready to come up with some new numbers. Hopefully! That would be very exciting,” Walsh said.

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Both Newmarch and Walsh acknowledged that both Molly and Florence have aspirations for the choir beyond Hope Valley. “Molly and Florence were both very excited about that opportunity [in Salt Lake City],” Newmarch told TV Insider. “The idea of doing something in a different town, getting out of their routine, traveling a bit, that’s very exciting to both of them.”

The Season 11 finale is right around the corner, and Newmarch teased that it’s “real juicy.” Walsh revealed there will be “surprises coming your way all the way to the end of the season. Even if you think you know what’s coming, you’ve got to stay tuned. Because right until the final moments, there’s surprises. There’s surprises and really exciting and dynamic and entertaining things coming.”

Newmarch added, “There’s something for everyone. There’s romance and action and comedy and sweetness. It’s all there. There’s something for everyone. We’re trying some new flavors that I don’t think you’ve quite seen yet that are actually a lot of fun.”

Watch the full video interview above.

When Calls the Heart, Sundays, 9/8c, Hallmark Channel