Hallmark's 'When Calls the Heart' Sets Season 8 Premiere Date (Exclusive)

An early look at the new season will drop Christmas Day. Plus, check out the exclusive poster.

Back to Hope Valley we go.

Hallmark Channel has set a premiere date for season 8 of its original drama series, When Calls the Heartwhich will officially kick off Sunday, Feb. 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, ET exclusively reveals.

The upcoming season, which Hallmark promises will have "more surprises and challenges in store for the residents of Hope Valley," will feature an additional two episodes from its previous 10-episode order, bringing the total count to 12. The last time the series had 12 episodes was in its 2014 rookie season. 

Though When Calls the Heart will be breaking from tradition this year and not airing a new holiday movie on Christmas Day, fans should still tune in Dec. 25 for an exclusive first look at season 8 during an encore airing of 2019's When Calls the Heart: Home for Christmas.

Check out the official season 8 poster, exclusively at ET, below.

Hallmark Channel

The season 7 finale ended on a bit of a romantic cliffhanger when Elizabeth (Erin Krakow), after mistakenly believing that Nathan (Kevin McGarry) had been shot, hugged him when she saw that he hadn't been. And Lucas (Chris McNally), watching from afar, could only look on. With Elizabeth landing a publishing deal and being well on her way to success, will she get closer to making a decision between Nathan and Lucas?

ET's Deidre Behar caught up with Krakow in April over Zoom to get her reaction to returning for another season.

"I hope more of the same, and that we'll get to continue to deepen these relationships and storylines," the actress and co-executive producer said. "I'm so glad that the show continues to resonate for so many people -- even in its seventh season. It's amazing and it's a real gift to all of us that we get to continue to work on a show with such longevity."

"And I'm also so excited because I feel like we still have a lot more stories to tell," Krakow shared. "Our cast and crew are some of my best friends. And so I'm really looking forward to getting to spend more 16-hour days together."

Season 7 of When Calls the Heart will be available to stream on Hallmark Movies Now starting Dec. 26.

For more on When Calls the Heart, watch the video below.

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