‘When Calls the Heart’s Pascale Hutton & Kavan Smith Reunite in ‘Nelly Knows Mysteries’ Movie: A ‘Perfect Fit for Us’

Would you like Swooon in your inbox? Signup for our Swooon! newsletter!

When Calls the Heart Season 12 is still a ways off, but Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith are making the wait easier for the Hearties. The costars, who play Hope Valley power couple Rosemary and Lee Coulter, are reuniting onscreen in the brand-new Hallmark Mystery film Nelly Knows Mysteries: A Fatal Engagement. Hutton and Smith spoke with TV Insider about how their latest roles are a far cry from the characters they play on When Calls the Heart.

“I wanted something physically different for this character [Detective Michael] because I didn’t want to look like Lee, so he’s a little scruffier,” Smith teased. “You can see the wrinkles in his face a little bit more. He’s got a leather jacket. It’s a very different look.”

Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith in ‘Nelly Knows Mysteries: A Fatal Engagement.’ (Hallmark Media / Muse Entertainment)

Hutton added, “Rosemary always has that kind of performance vibe, of like very grand [and] taking up space. Nelly sort of does, too, but in a completely different way. She’s quite quirky. She almost perceives to be bumbly, but she actually has things totally under control.”  This new role required Hutton to use a “different skill set” than she’s used on When Calls the Heart since her character is diving into a “mystery investigation.”

In the Hallmark Mystery movie, advice columnist Nelly must work with Detective Michael to help her childhood friend, Dahlia. When Dahlia’s boyfriend is found dead, Nelly and Detective Michael have to find the killer and prove that prime suspect Dahlia is not the perpetrator.

The costars have “been trying for years” to team up in another project outside of the popular Hallmark drama series. “When they actually called, we were taken aback. We thought that ship had sailed,” Smit admitted. Hutton added, “I think it was meant to be because this one feels like the perfect fit for us. When we first read the script, Kavan phoned me and said, ‘So this is a slam dunk for us.'”

When it comes to the dynamic between Nelly and Detective Michael, don’t expect these two to be exactly like the Coulters—at least not right away. “Nelly is a bit like a bulldozer slash whirlwind,” Hutton told TV Insider. “She knows everybody. I think his character almost doesn’t know what to make of her at first because she kind of just comes in and stirs everything up and takes over, and then she leaves. He’s a bit like, ‘What just happened? Who is this?'”

Related

A Complete Timeline of Elizabeth & Nathan's Road to Love on 'WCTH'

Hutton and Smith have worked together for over a decade on When Calls the Heart, and their onscreen partnership is still going strong. “It’s very rare in this business that you find somebody that you like to work with, that you work well with,” Smith noted. “Usually, you show up on set, you try and force a relationship real quick. You bond quickly, or you don’t, and then the show’s over. Sometimes, when there’s this slow burn over the years, you get on each other’s nerves. We don’t generally get on each other’s nerves, so we’ve always looked to keep that working relationship going because it’s just a good fit. As you get older as an actor, you just want to keep going. You want to keep doing this.”

Hutton chimed in, “You realize how important it is to work with people that you enjoy working with and trust. It’s a lot of time that you’re investing into something, and to do it with people that you don’t love sucks.”

Nelly Knows Mysteries, Movie Premiere, Friday, August 23, 9/8c, Hallmark Mystery