Ten years after she last played Charlotte Thornton on “When Calls The Heart,” actress Brooke Shields shocked Hearties in October 2025 with the news she’d be returning to the Hallmark Channel series for season 13, premiering on January 4, 2026.
Turns out that wasn’t the only surprise Shields, 60, had up her sleeve. In an interview with Parade on December 29, the legendary actress revealed her 22-year-old daughter Rowan will join her onscreen for her acting debut — and a moment that’s especially meaningful for Shields.
Brooke Shields’ Daughter Has Diabetes-1 Like Little Jack in ‘When Calls The Heart’
GettyShields first appeared on “When Calls The Heart” as a guest star in 2016, playing the mother of Daniel Lissing’s character, Mountie Jack Thornton. She arrived in Hope Valley on horseback to check on her son, who went on to marry the show’s lead character Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow), and father “little Jack” (Hyland Goodrich). But in the season five finale, Jack died in a landslide during a training mission with other Mounties.
In teasers for season 13, set in 1922, Charlotte is seen back in Hope Valley and seemingly supporting the new love that’s blossomed between Elizabeth and Mountie Nathan Grant (Kevin McGarry). They were last seen trying to access a new treatment for little Jack, who was diagnosed with diabetes in season 12. In fact, the season ended with them heading to stay at Charlotte’s boarding house.
Charlotte’s unexpected return was an easy yes for Shields, who told Parade, “Little Jack having diabetes in an era when nobody knew about it, and refrigeration wasn’t a thing, was compelling to me. I have a Type-1 diabetic daughter who was diagnosed at age 14, and this is the first major television series script that came across my desk that had a legitimate Type-1 diabetes storyline, and that definitely hit home for me.”
Shields and her eldest daughter, Rowan Henchy, told People in 2024 that Henchy had been diagnosed with diabetes as a high school freshman in 2018. Now an advocate for others navigating the disease, frequently showcasing the patches she wears to pump medicine and monitor her blood sugar levels, Henchy has since graduated from college.
Interested in a career behind the scenes, she got to join her mom on the set of “When Calls The Heart” in Vancouver while she was filming. To their surprise, the show’s producers and writers said they planned to write a small part for Henchy, Shields told Parade.
“So, I get to have a scene with my daughter, who has never done anything like that before,” Shields said. “I’m just sitting there thinking that at 60 years old it has culminated into this really feel-good, positive goodwill that I’m being invited to still play in and do, and share it with my daughter.”
Brooke Shields Says She Loves the Strength of the Women in Hope Valley
Shields told Parade she’s thrilled to be back on “When Calls The Heart,” noting that “the show has such a special place in the zeitgeist. The fans are incredibly generous, and it’s been fascinating to see how the series has matured over the years.”
That includes, Shields said, how it’s continued to portray strong women in the early 1900s. She told Parade, “I read the scripts, and it dealt very honestly and appropriately with women in this time of their lives.”
“They have to pick themselves up,” she said, describing the show’s female characters. “Charlotte does things on her own. She opened her own boarding house with her own money and did things that women weren’t often doing in that time period. She’s not relying on a man, and it’s an interestingly modern feminist approach in the best of ways.”
“When Calls The Heart” season 13 premieres on January 4 at 8 p.m. Eastern time and will be available to stream the following day via Hallmark+.
I’m thrilled to have Brooke Shields back as Charlotte Thornton. I’m just disturbed to hear her tell Nathan he is honourable and as good a man as her son Jack. Does she know the part he played in Jack’s death and kept it from Elizabeth for years? That was not honourable and he is definitely not worthy to try and fill Jack’s shoes. Jack and Elizabeth were the legacy Mountie and teacher lovestory and it’s disrespectful to try and replace him.