ET speaks with 'When Calls the Heart's Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith about Rosemary's pregnancy and their characters becoming parents.
Coulter family, party of three!
After years of publicly expressing a desire to see their When Calls the Heart characters, Rosemary and Lee Coulter, become parents, Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith are finally seeing their dream fulfilled. During episode 10 of season 9, Rosemary thinks she has a stomach bug, but is later informed by Dr. Faith Carter (Andrea Brooks) that all signs point to pregnancy. But because of complications she’s experienced in the past, Rosemary decides to keep the news from Lee until she’s absolutely certain that their family is expanding -- thus, inviting viewers in on the secret before her other half finds out.
ET exclusively spoke with Hutton and Smith all about their characters’ milestone, including how the storyline shaped up and the “twists and turns” that lie ahead on their journey to parenthood.
“I'm just really pleased. I'm really pleased that it came to fruition,” Hutton gushes with a smile. “I'm happy with the story, how it unfolds. After so much speculation for so many seasons from the fans, it was going to be really hard to keep it a secret. It was going to be hard, storytelling-wise, to keep it a secret, have her have symptoms and not have everybody just assume right away.”
The British Columbia native tells ET that she collaborated closely with showrunner John Tinker to present the storyline in an “exciting yet unknown” way -- which makes sense considering the time period, prior to the invention of ultrasounds or pregnancy tests. “It really was just a speculation, wait and see, and that's the journey of living in that, ‘I think I am [pregnant], but I don't know,’” Hutton explains.
As for Smith, he doesn’t hesitate to praise his longtime scene partner, whom he credits for bringing this storyline to the small screen. “It really did not have much to do with me,” he admits, before sharing, “It was something that we thought about from the very get-go, and I know we've talked about it a ton of times this year… but Pascale made that happen.”
And while the on-screen pair tied the knot in season 3, Smith says, ironically, he’s happy it took six seasons to arrive at a pregnancy. He expresses, “I think it was a no-brainer. It had to happen at some point, and I'm actually kind of glad that we waited so long because I think it is a struggle for a lot of people… I kind of liked that they had to go through this fire first, but really, this is all Pascale. She made this happen. She was not going to let it go.”
Hutton tells ET that she had “a lot of say” in the creative direction of Rosemary’s journey to baby. She says she collaborated closely with Tinker on the decision to gently tease pregnancy symptoms before Rosemary, and eventually, Lee, discover the truth. “What I think, though, and I'm hoping is the case, is that the fans will really enjoy being in on the secret with Rosemary until Lee finds out,” Hutton muses. “They're in on it, and I think that that's hopefully, fingers crossed, going to be a really unique kind of journey for the fans to go on for the last three episodes until it maybe, possibly gets revealed [to Lee].”
Fans of When Calls the Heart know just how special this on-screen couple’s bond is. They often finish each other’s sentences and constantly demonstrate their commitment to each other, in good times and bad. So when it was revealed to the newspaper editor that she is expecting, many may have anticipated an overjoyed reaction and an immediate desire to share the news with her husband. However, Hutton explains why the show opted for a different approach.
“I've always thought, and I think what we've seen over and over again, is the bigger the life moment, the smaller Rosemary gets,” she recalls. “That made perfect sense to me, that it would be as small as possible. Those moments when Lee was in the infirmary and she was at his bedside. Those were really small moments. I always thought, that's an interesting juxtaposition in her character that the biggest moments, she becomes the smallest. I love it. I think that's real.”
As for Rosemary keeping the news to herself (at least, for now), the actress says that fans will ultimately get a satisfying resolution.
“I think what it does is, it builds that suspense, and then it's such an amazing, cathartic moment when [Lee] does find out, and that, I think, that's really special,” Hutton teases. She specifically appreciates that the beginning of Rosemary’s pregnancy is full of “vulnerability and cautiousness,” but says it will eventually blossom into “unbridled excitement, enjoyment, happiness and pure joy.”
Smith echoes Hutton’s sentiments, telling ET that he initially felt it was a mistake to keep the news from Lee, but quickly changed his tune. He recalls, “I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! No, no, no! It has to be big. It has to be special,’ and keeping it from him, I thought that that would take away from that, but it didn't. In the end, I love how it comes about. I love where we are. It's very intimate, just the two of us, which is what I wanted, and it's a really kind of sweet, funny moment of elation.”
As we await the moment that Lee discovers he’s going to be a father, the hearties can cling tightly to the tender scene where Rosemary’s closest friend, Elizabeth Thornton (Erin Krakow), learns the big news. After feeling her cool forehead and noticing her glowing complexion, Elizabeth realizes that Rosemary was never sick -- instead, she was showing early signs of pregnancy! The school teacher’s eyes well up with tears as she warmly embraces her longtime BFF.
Hutton gushes of filming that scene, “I love acting with Erin and she's always so present and so available. I knew it was going to be really special, but it caught me off guard because she was so emotional in such a beautiful way.” Specifically, Hutton loves that scene because “it's such a testament to their friendship and how close those two really are… they’ve had each other's back for everything and wanting to share in every single moment, good and bad and everything in between.”
And while Hutton and Smith are staying tight-lipped about what’s to come in the season’s remaining episodes, they tease that the hearties should buckle their seatbelts.
“There are still a lot of unexpected twists and turns to this story,” Hutton shares, cryptically. “It's still an unexpected journey that is unfolding. It's not just, ‘Yay, we're pregnant and here we go.’ There's a lot of twists and turns and it's not totally smooth.” Smith adds, “I would also say that it's not really over after the two [remaining] episodes, either. The twists and turns that are being established over the next two episodes, they are still going to be twisting and turning into season 10, if we're so lucky.” But, the Alberta native offers a promise to the loyal fans: “When we get to the end of the season, it's going to be an overwhelming feeling of joy, I think, for this couple, and it's been a long time coming. So I hope people enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
When Calls the Heart airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel.
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