Lori Loughlin sets her return to acting following short stint in prison

After serving a two-month sentence at a minimum security prison where she partook in grueling activities such as “yoga, Pilates, painting, calligraphy, crochet, origami, and ceramics,” Lori Loughlin’s learned her lesson and is ready to return to acting. The actor is set to reprise her role as Abigail Stanton from the Hallmark series When Calls The Heart, for the new spin-off series When Hope Calls.

Loughlin was infamously involved in the 2019 college bribery scandal, and was convicted for mail fraud along with her husband Mossimo Giannulli. Facing up to 50 years for the crime, Loughlin barely did the time and is currently on probation. In order to film When Hope Calls, she recently received permission from a Boston federal judge to travel to Canada for “a filming production project.” Loughlin will appear in the two-part season 2 premiere titled When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas, which is set to air on Dec. 18.

Loughlin was actually supposed to appear in the sixth season of When Calls The Heart as Stanton. However, in the midst of the college admissions scandal, she was edited completely out of final episodes the season.

When Hope Calls—which films in Ontario, Canada—is set in Brookfield, a fictional western prairie town. According to Deadline, in When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas, Part 1, Brookfield hosts a Christmas festival as one of three contenders in Harper’s Bazaar’s search for America’s #1 Country Christmas Town. The entire town is preoccupied with creating the essence of Christmas for the photojournalist’s lens, though, behind the scenes, residents are not living the spirit of the season. In the midst of the fuss, a stagecoach appears, and out steps Abigail Stanton and her son, Cody, who have brought a troubled boy to Lillian’s orphanage. Sounds about right for a Hallmark spin-off.

Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade, who was at the center of the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, is currently participating on this season of Dancing With The Stars, where she calls herself an “influencer.” It’s really cool to see wealthy famous people evade actual consequences and get to move on swiftly from their crimes.