Erin Krakow Looks Back on ‘Father Christmas’ Trilogy, ‘It Was Always You’ & More Hallmark Roles
[This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization.]
Hallmark fans will likely think of When Calls the Heart first when it comes to Erin Krakow (its star and an executive producer), but she’s also all over the network’s movies, both rom-coms and Christmas. When TV Insider caught up with Krakow in April about her latest Hallmark Channel film, The Wedding Cottage, we also took the opportunity to have her reminisce on some of her past work — including the first season of the long-running drama.
“I feel like I’m really living it out with every project that [Hallmark] offers me. I’m so grateful for the characters I’ve had the pleasure of playing and that I’ve been able to executive produce on When Calls. It’d be an interesting new challenge to direct something for Hallmark maybe one day and maybe write something someday,” she told us of her Hallmark bucket list. “I don’t know. I would be curious to know what others would want to see from me if maybe there’s a different kind of character they’d be curious to see me play. But I don’t know that there’s anything that’s screaming at me right now. I’m feeling very happy and grateful with what I’ve been given.”
Scroll down for her thoughts on the Father Christmas trilogy, A Cookie Cutter Christmas, It Was Always You, and more.
When Calls the Heart, Sundays, 9/8c, Hallmark Channel
When Calls the Heart Season 1 (2014)
“Season 1 feels like a lifetime ago and sort of just yesterday all at once. It’s this bizarre feeling. But it was a really exhausting and incredible chapter of my life. And I continue to feel so proud to be a part of When Calls the Heart and grateful that the Hearties have kept us on the air all these years, that Hallmark continues to believe in our show. Season 1, I think we filmed it in 2013, [and] it aired in 2014. It was a long time ago. And the show has changed and grown a lot since then. But looking back, I just feel a lot of pride to be a part of it.”
Chance at Romance (2014)
“This was my first Hallmark movie and I remember just being so overwhelmed when it was offered to me. It was such a fantastic script. Working with Ryan McPartlin was great, Patricia Richardson, these people were incredible. And then of course, our young Donny [Ian Andrew] who orchestrated the whole thing. That was a really fun project that continues to air, and I think it’s a favorite of our viewers.”
A Cookie Cutter Christmas (2014)
“Oh man, the late great Alan Thicke. Also super fun. What a treasure. And that was where I first met Genea Charpentier who joined us on When Calls for a while. And Jaeda Lily Miller was also in that movie as was Gracyn Shinyei. These are all some of our young talent from When Calls. So it was fun to get to work on a movie with them as well.”
Father Christmas Trilogy (2016, 2017 & 2018)
“This is when I first worked with Terry Ingram, who directed The Wedding Cottage. He directed Finding Father Christmas. That was a great trilogy. The books were written by Robin Jones Gunn. I’m not saying that to toot my own horn, I truly felt like they had a lot of heart, and they were important stories to tell because not everyone has the cookie cutter family with the happy traditions around the holidays. And I heard from a lot of viewers that being able to see Miranda’s perspective around family and around the holidays was refreshing for them, to get to see something reflected back to them that represented their own journey. So I was proud to be a part of something a little different in that story.”
A Summer Romance (2019)
“Any opportunity to get back on the horse. That was a lot of fun, to play a kind of cowgirl, and I worked with a lot of the same crew from When Calls. So those people are like family to me. It was a really good time.”
Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen (2019)
“This was really fun because Luke Macfarlane and I went to college together in New York, and he was an upperclassman, so I looked up to him, but we didn’t really get to work together in school. But it was a lot of fun to get to work together on this movie and reminisce about our time at school and just become closer pals. He’s a really great guy.”
It Was Always You (2021)
“This was my first time working with Tyler Hynes, and he was fantastic and so just present on set and a great person. This was also a very bold script written by Kathy Kloves. I think we were both really taken by how different this story was, and it was a really brave choice for Hallmark. I think they were doing something outside the box a little bit here. The story of a woman who falls out of love with her fiancé and into love with his brother is a tricky line to walk. So Tyler and I were very cautious about how we handled it, but I think we were both super proud of that love story. And it seems like our viewers must have loved it because they’re still talking about it and really campaigning for a sequel.”
