Brooke Shields’ highly-anticipated two-part return to When Calls the Heart brings an added sense of family as her daughter Rowan Francis Henchy is set to make a surprise appearance.
“It was fun,” Shields, 60, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, February 26, of her character Charlotte Thornton’s return to Hope Valley.
While fans got to see Charlotte during the Sunday, March 1, episode, it’s the upcoming part two of her stay, airing on Sunday, March 8, that will feature Rowan, 22, in a minor part.
“We did not expect my daughter to be in it,” Shields confessed. “It happened kind of last minute.”
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The actress recalled asking Rowan, “’Do you want to be in this episode? Are you OK delivering lines?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, sure. OK, I’ll do it.’”
Shields, who shares Rowan and Grier Hammond Henchy, 19, with husband Chris Henchy, revealed, “I had never acted with my daughter before.” (Shields married film director Chris, 61, in April 2001.)
As WCTH fans know, Charlotte is the mother of the late Jack Sr. (Daniel Lissing), who died during season 5, and the grandmother to Little Jack (Hyland Goodrich), whom Jack Sr. shared with wife Elizabeth Thornton (Erin Krakow).
During the upcoming episode titled “Blessings,” Charlotte is still in town due to her plans in Union City being delayed.
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While the focus of the episode will be on Elizabeth’s boyfriend, Mountee Nathan Grant (Kevin McGarry), having a meaningful conversation with Charlotte at her son’s tombstone, viewers will briefly see Shields’ look-alike daughter as well toward the end of the episode. (Keep an eye on the car that arrives to pick up Charlotte to take her to Union City and you’ll see Rowan dressed in 1920s’ period-piece clothing sitting in the back beside her.)
Although Rowan isn’t an actor by trade, Shields told Us that she decided not to give her daughter any professional tips when she arrived on set. (Rowan graduated from Wake Forest University in 2025 and has been working as a booking producer for Good Morning America ever since, according to her LinkedIn.)
“Sometimes the best tip is to just get out of their way,” Shields explained, noting Rowan had “done plays in college.”
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Shields added, “I just didn’t want to micromanage. But if there was something and I saw it in her face, I’d say, like, ‘OK, that’s 10-1, and 10-1 means to go to the bathroom.’ Those kinds of things about how the crew works.”
The actress and former model noted that Rowan has also “worked on sets before” but as her mother, she noticed “a lot of little things that [made her] wide eyed.”
“I thought she did so well,” Shields said, revealing that the Hallmark writers “kept adding lines for her.”
Looking back on her return to WCTH with Rowan by her side, Shields told Us she had a “great” experience.
“I love the loyalty and the fans are just so delightful in you know that they care so much, and I appreciate it,” Shields added.
See both Shields and Rowan on When Calls the Heart airs on Hallmark Channel Sunday, March 8, at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Hallmark+.
