Whos Tom Thornton on When Calls the Heart? What Happens With Elizabeth?
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Soaps.com may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Hope Valley has seen dozens of residents come and go over the years, but only a few oft hem have been as impactful as Tom Thornton, who returned to When Calls the Heart in Season 11 to give Elizabeth an important realization about her potential new relationship and what it meant for the memory of her late husband. But for those who don’t remember Tom from When Calls the Heart, here’s a refresher on the character whose impact is still being felt in Hope Valley.
Who’s Tom Thornton on When Calls the Heart?
Tom “Thomas” Thornton, played by Max Lloyd-Jones, made his debut in When Calls the Heart Season 2, Episode 13, “Trials of the Heart,” in which his brother Jack Thornton — Elizabeth Thatcher’s late husband — introduces him to Elizabeth’s sisters, Julie and Viola Thatcher. Julie, in particular, takes a liking to Tom and the two start to date in secret. However, after Julie crashes a car with Tom in the passenger seat, leaving him injured and hospitalized, the two break up and Tom moves to Cape Fullerton, where Jack gets him a job.
Tom returns in When Calls the Heart Season 5 when he attends Jack and Elizabeth’s wedding. He also meets up with Julie during the wedding, though they don’t continue their relationship. Tom doesn’t return again until When Calls the Heart Season 11, Season 6, “Believe,” which saw him surprising Elizabeth in Hope Valley and meeting his nephew, Jack Jr. (Elizabeth and Jack’s son), for the first time.
“Who are you?” Jack Jr. asks Tom in a preview of the episode as he shows up with balloon and flowers to Jack’s grave. “Hello, Elizabeth,” Tom responds. The scene continues with Elizabeth introducing Tom to Jack Jr. “This is your uncle, Tommy. Your daddy’s brother,” Elizabeth says.
The preview continues with Leland Coulter asking Tom why he’s in Hope Valley. He responds, “I’m scouting choirs for a festival in Salt Lake City.” Later in the preview, Elizabeth tells her love interest, Nathan Grant, that she thinks that Tom still believes that he’s in his late brother’s shadow. “I can sympathize with that,” Nathan responds, suggesting that he also views himself as a lesser version of Elizabeth’s late husband. Elizabeth replies, “I don’t think of you as being in anyone’s shadow.”
Given Elizabeth and Nathan’s “will they, won’t they?” relationship throughout Season 11, fans believe When Calls the Heart is using Tom as a way for viewers to get closure between Elizabeth and Jack, who died in Season 5 in order for her to officially move on with Nathan. “Yeeeeiiiiii! We’re putting the “I was trying to find Jack in you” line right where it belongs… IN THE TRASH!!!” a user commented on a YouTube preview of “Believe.” Another user wrote, “Super excited for Tom!!! And I hope E&N hash out the Jack-cop-out-line and it doesn’t just get brushed over…”
The episode is expected to have a similar effect as the conversation between Nathan and Lucas Bouchard, Elizabeth’s ex-fiance whom she broke up with at the end of Season 10, in When Calls the Heart Season 11, Episode 5, “Stronger Together,” which saw Lucas give his blessing for Nathan to date Elizabeth. “I’d rather have her as a friend than have her not in my life at all,” Lucas says.
Erin Krakow, who plays Elizabeth, told Us Weekly in April 2024 that Elizabeth and Nathan are “endgame” material but there’s a reason for their “slow burn” throughout Season 11. “We’re really taking our time for a few reasons,” Krakow said. “One, I think they don’t know for sure how the other feels, so they’re kind of tiptoeing. They also want to be respectful of [Elizabeth’s ex-fiancé] Lucas, and then I think they’re both single parents and they really care about how Allie and Little Jack might respond to something like this.”
Krakow, who claimed that Elizabeth is searching for her “most authentic” love story, also described Nathan and Elizabeth’s relationship as “very grownup.” “I think that Elizabeth is finally at a point in her life where she really knows who she is and what she wants, and she’s just kind of crossing her fingers that Nathan still has feelings for her,” Krakow said, adding that she does “believe” the two are “endgame.”
She also told the site about how Jack Jr. could benefit from Nathan as a father figure, given that both Nathan and Jack Sr. were Mounties. “Little Jack has always looked up to Mountie Nathan,” Krakow said. “We’ve seen the sweet scenes where he’s shared a salute with Mountie Nathan, and I think that for him, having questions about his own father and seeing photos of him in uniform and wearing his dad’s Mountie hat, there is a real connective tissue there, if nothing else, just through their profession.”
When Calls the Heart is available to stream on Peacock.
For more on When Calls the Heart, check out where former cast members — including Daniel Lissing and Lori Loughlin — are now.
ncG1vNJzZmirn5a9tHrSoZykpp%2BswG%2BvzqZmrKeRpcBwusSwqmhvY2WBeXyOraamZaedsq95wpqjpatdqbWmeceemKusXw%3D%3D