‘When Calls the Heart’: Is Jack Thornton Alive? Fans Reveal Wild Theories

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the When Calls the Heart Season 11 finale “Anything for Love.”]

A last-minute bombshell could threaten Elizabeth (Erin Krakow) and Nathan’s (Kevin McGarry) happiness after they’ve just cleared all the obstacles standing in their way. Following a passionate kiss, Elizabeth’s beautiful declaration of love, and then Mike (Ben Rosenbaum) and Mei’s (Amanda Wong) wedding, Elizabeth and Nathan got the shock of their lives.

As they walked through town and discussed things like fate (oh, the irony), Superintendent Hargraves (David Lewis) from Fort Clay showed up unexpectedly. Nathan thought Hargraves was there to see him, but Hargraves said he wanted to speak to Elizabeth in private about her “late husband.”

Elizabeth’s late husband, Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing), was killed off When Calls the Heart at the end of Season 5 in a tragic landslide. After watching that Season 11 cliffhanger, we’ve all been wondering—is Jack Thornton alive? Many fans have held out hold that Jack somehow survived the landslide, and while it would be a shocking twist, stranger things have happened in the world of TV.

“After the accident, two men were pulled out. One was Jack and the other was the man they thought was Jack,” a fan wrote on Reddit. “Jack, being ever the generous man, traded coats with the other man because of a tear (or some other reason the writers can work out). The faces of the two men were bruised and muddy enough that they used the name on the coats to identity the men. The man they thought was Jack was deceased and Elizabeth was notified. Again, the face had been cut, bruised, scarred enough that it resembled Jack. The other man was sent to a different hospital due to other incidents in the same area to be treated. There he was in a coma for several days (or longer) before waking up with amnesia!”

Another fan chimed in on Reddit about Jack, saying they’ve always believed Lissing’s character was still alive. “They never found his body. They just used a coffin for the funeral. The final scene of the series will be Jack walking back into town and Elizabeth running towards him. That would make it all worthwhile,” the fan wrote.

One fan theorized an “identical cousin coming back from war somewhere. Not Jack per se but close enough.” That could bring back Lissing to When Calls the Heart, but not as Jack, which would be the most plausible theory. Since the Lucas-Elizabeth-Nathan love triangle appears to be settled, this theory would give Elizabeth and Nathan another hurdle to overcome. This is a TV show, after all!

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TV Insider spoke with Krakow about the Season 11 cliffhanger and promised that Season 12 wouldn’t leave the Hearties hanging. “We’re not going to pretend that conversation never happened, so we will come back in Season 12 and address it,” she said. “Our scripts are still in flux as we’re moving toward filming. I will leave it at that. It’s a juicy enough cliffhanger on its own.”

We won’t know what Hargraves needs to tell Elizabeth until Season 12, but he did say “late husband,” implying that Jack is still very much dead. Hey, that just gives more weight to the “identical cousin” theory!

Do you think Jack is still alive? Do you want Lissing to return to When Calls the Heart? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. (Plus, check out the finale episode of our When Calls the Heart aftershow, Heart Beats, here.)

When Calls the Heart, Season 12, TBA, Hallmark Channel