[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the When Calls the Heart Season 11 premiere “When Stars Align.”] Welcome back to Hope Valley, Hearties. It looks like When Calls the Heart Season 11 is going to be a time of change—and we don’t just mean Elizabeth’s ( Erin Krakow , also an executive producer) haircut! The good news: Lucas ( Chris McNally ) is alive after being shot. The not-so-good news, for some fans at least: Elizabeth’s relationship with him does truly seem to be over. Season 10 ended with Elizabeth at her late husband’s grave, and her words did imply that she saw Lucas as the “safe” option, as someone whose loss wouldn’t affect her like Jack’s did. Joining TV Insider for our weekly When Calls the Heart aftershow, Heart Beats , Krakow carefully agrees, “I think she was absolutely frozen and petrified over the idea that she might love again and find herself as broken as she was when Jack passed—and that is not to take anything away from her love story with Lucas, which was very much real.” Rather, while “she had a lot of love for Lucas, there was just this very slow realization—because I don’t think she was even aware of it when she made the decision to choose Lucas that she was choosing safe love over great love—to the fact that they weren’t meant to be,” continues Krakow. “And I think that was brought on by seeing the very subtle differences between them.” The two are going to remain
Friends, but that’s complicated by Nathan ( Kevin McGarry ), “this other guy who has the potential to become [Elizabeth’s] great love,” she says. But as Elizabeth admits in the premiere, she’s not sure if Nathan, who returns to Hope Valley after being away investigating Lucas’
shooting, still has feelings for her. Still, the two to do share a moment sitting together to look at the planets. “That moment on the steps is maybe the first moment in Season 11 where Elizabeth wonders, ‘Oh, did he just look at me? Did Nathan just look at me when he called the planets beautiful, or whatever it was? Maybe there is hope. I don’t know. Am I misreading what’s happening here?'” according to Krakow. “It is a bit of a dance between them this season trying to evaluate how the other feels because they have such history that no one wants to make any assumptions. They wouldn’t want to do damage to a friendship that they worked really hard to build just on the off chance that they’re misreading.” As revealed in a promo, Elizabeth does cut her hair in this episode—her best friend Rosemary ( Pascale Hutton ) does it for her, after she learns Fiona ( Kayla Wallace ) isn’t returning to Hope Valley —and Krakow knows how that has gone over in the past with leads on TV shows ( Felicity ). “It’s polarizing,” she acknowledges. “The idea was, what can we do for Elizabeth that will help illustrate where she is in her life, that she’s looking for a fresh start, wanting to shake things up a bit, breathe new life into this new chapter?” she explains. “Everybody can relate to a post breakup haircut.” Watch the full video aftershow above for more from Krakow, including more about Nathan and Lucas, what’s to come for Rosemary, and a returning guest star. And come back every week as we sit down with another WCTH cast member to get the scoop on each Season 11 episode. When Calls the Heart , Sundays, 9/8c, Hallmark Channel More Headlines: