Actor Lori Loughlin left the Hallmark Channel, including her role on "When Calls the Heart," in the wake of the college admissions scandal. Per Entertainment Weekly, she was even edited out of the remainder of the Season 6 episodes in which Abigail appeared. On the show, the mayor of Hope Valley had a somewhat abrupt exit. One minute, she was dealing with the minutiae of small-town government. The next, Elizabeth was letting everyone know Abigail's mother had fallen ill and she'd rushed home to be with her.
She did make a point of expressing just how much Abigail meant to everybody though, so Loughlin didn't necessarily leave the show on a bad note, at least in the storyline. "Abigail is much more than a friend. She's family, and I will miss her and Cody deeply. We all will," Elizabeth shared. Jack Wagner, who plays Bill, admitted to ET that Loughlin's loss was keenly felt, particularly due to the necessary reshoots.
"It really was a real group effort of feeling like we had to feel our feelings and then we had to move past that and that's what we've done," he explained. According to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, there was a fleeting reference to Abigail in Season 9, when it was confirmed she and Elizabeth still kept in touch by letter. Henry, meanwhile, acknowledged he'd been out to visit her at one stage. But fans shouldn't anticipate a big return for the character.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEpaCsrF6YvK57kGlpbXBiaXy4tculZKWnop56rbvUoJ%2BloZ5iv6bA1KulZp6fp3q0scCspqdlYWV6sLKMsJ%2Bepl2Yrq240maroZ1dnbKivtNo