Since Daniel Lissing left When Calls the Heart in 2018, he has carried on with his acting career. He has appeared in a few films and TV shows, including Christmas In Love, S.W.A.T., and The Rookie on which he currently plays a recurring role.
Every actor has the work that defines their career and for Daniel Lissing, it is his roles as James King in Last Resort and and as Jack Thornton in When Calls the Heart.
The Australian actor born and raised in Sydney gained mainstream popularity in 2012 when he pulled off his first U.S role on the ABC military drama series Last Resort which aired only from September 2012 to January 2013.
He then solidified on that and further popularized his name across the globe when he began playing Jack Thornton in the Canadian-American television drama series When Calls the Heart. The show has so far aired for eight seasons and Hallmark Channel announced in May 2021 that the series would return for a ninth season.
Daniel left the show in 2018 after its 5th season, leaving many of his admirers wondering why he left and what he has been up to since then.
The Australian Actor Has Been Seen In Several TV Productions Since He Left When Call The Heart
It was in the tenth episode of When Calls the Heart‘s fifth season that Daniel Lissing made his last appearance on the drama series based on Janette Oke’s book of the same title. The episode titled “Close to My Heart” was the last of the season and it aired on the 22nd of April 2018. Any serious fan of the series ought to know his character died off-screen in a Mountain training camp.
Daniel had been acting for many years before he became known in multiple countries for his role in the series and he has remained active in the industry. To the best of our knowledge, he debuted as an actor in 2001 when he played a cop in two episodes of the Australian comedy television series, Pizza. The first work he did after he left When Calls the Heart was in a 2018 Hallmark television film titled Christmas In Love. He played a major role as Nick Carlingson alongside Brooke D’Orsay in the TV movie directed by Don McBrearty.
Daniel Lissing is Currently Playing Sterling Freeman In The Rookie
Daniel Lissing is currently playing one of the recurring characters in The Rookie, a television series created by Alexi Hawley for ABC. The American police procedural show co-produced by ABC Studios and Entertainment One premiered on the 16th of October 2018 and was renewed for a third season that premiered in January 2021 sometime in May 2020.
The Aussie joined the show in its second season, precisely on its ninth episode titled “Breaking Point”. Since then, he has appeared in a total of four episodes of the show, including “Now and Then” (2020; Season Two, Episode 12), “Control” (2020; Season 2, Episode 17), and “True Crime” (2021; Season Three, Episode Seven).
Is Any of His Subsequent Works as Good as When Calls the Heart?
Apart from Christmas In Love and The Rookie, Daniel Lissing also played a character called Ty in S.W.A.T. after he left When Calls the Heart. He played the role in the action drama television series between 2018 and 2019 in a total of five episodes. Lissing was first seen in “Never Again”, the sixth episode of the series’ second season in 2018.
That same year, he was seen in “The Tiffany Experience” which is also an episode (eight) of the second season. Thereafter, the actor appeared in “Cash Flow”, “Rocket Fuel”, and “Track”. They were all in 2019 and respectively, the 18th and 20th episodes of season two, as well as the seventh episode of the third season.
All of the three television productions he has been a part of since he left When Calls the Heart are popular and successful projects. The only difference is that the actor didn’t portray any major character thereof, apart from his role in the TV film, Christmas In Love. So, none of his subsequent works has earned him the level of admiration and attention he gained when he played Jack Thornton.
Daniel Lissing Left The Show Because He Felt It Was Time To Move On
Daniel Lissing is very grateful he got to play a popular character in an American TV show. According to him, it is beyond anything he could have ever imagined when he left Sydney for the United States.
While how he landed the role is a tale we are yet to unravel, we can affirm he was part of the series from its first episode, “Lost and Found”, which aired on the 11th of January 2014.
His character on the show was loved because of his romance with Elizabeth Thatcher, portrayed by Erin Krakow. The chemistry between Jack and Elizabeth was a unique one as Jack disliked her. But then, they gradually fell in love and subsequently got married.
As the show revolved around Jack and Elizabeth a great deal, it was quite a shock for its fans when Jack died off-screen in the last episode of the fifth season. His unexpected exit from the show led to a lot of speculations.
While it was speculated in some quarters that he was written off the show because of a disagreement with Hallmark, it was also rumored that he had some sort of drama on set with some cast members.
However, none of these seems to be the case. The Australian actor said he decided to leave the show because he had to. According to him, it was a hard decision to make and the reasons behind it “are very personal”.
While the actor is yet to divulge details of the said personal reasons, he made it clear that it had nothing to do with the producers and cast members of the show. Daniel said he explained to Hallmark and that they were very supportive of him just as his co-stars on the show were when they learned he was leaving.
Echoing Daniel’s assertion that he didn’t leave the show because of any trouble with Hallmark or drama with cast and crew members, Erin Krakow revealed that they were all sad he was leaving. She described the Aussie as one of her greatest scene partners and declared that he will be missed.
In addition to his character on the show being a major one, Daniel’s portrayal of Jack Thornton was so remarkable that the role couldn’t be recast. After the producer and writers deliberated on the options available, they decided that the death of his character was the only way forward.
