Heartland is a Canadian family comedy-drama television series which debuted in Canada on CBC Television and originally in the United States on The CW Plus syndication on October 14, 2007. Since 2010, the series moved first-run to Up TV, but still continues to air in reruns on the latter channel as a part the service's weekend schedule. The series is based on the Heartland book series by Lauren Brooke. It follows Amy Fleming and her older sister Louise "Lou" Fleming on their family ranch, 'Heartland', in Alberta. They live there with their widowed grandfather Jack Bartlett (played by Shaun Johnston), their father Tim Fleming, and hired farmhand Ty Borden. While dealing with the highs and lows of life on the ranch, the family bonds and grows closer. With the airing of its 125th episode on October 19, 2014, Heartland surpassed Street Legal as the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in Canadian television history. On June 1, 2022, CBC renewed the series for a 15-episode sixteenth season, premiered in Canada on October 2, 2022. In May 2023, the series was renewed for a 10-episode seventeenth season, which premiered in Canada on October 1, 2023. In May 2024, the series was renewed for an eighteenth season, which immediately began filming thereafter. It is set to premiere in Canada in the fall of 2024, and in the US later in 2025. In the United States, the series has wide distribution through broadcast syndication on weekends, including as part of the default national schedule for Up TV and The CW Plus and new episodes become available as of 2021, on Up Faith & Family, the network's streaming service months after full seasons finish their runs in Canada and later premiere in the US linearly on the main network and all later seasons are exclusive to Up Faith & family first before they go up to available for syndication on other American networks and streaming services that aren't affiliated with UP tv or its sister networks. Reruns of older episodes air on Hulu, Pluto TV, Crackle, Tubi, BYUtv, Retro TV, COZI TV, and Heartland (which is not named for the series). It was also a part of the schedule on Light TV until it was rebranded as TheGrio TV on January 15, 2021. The show is also available on Netflix and various other streaming platforms in the US.

Cast and characters

Main

Supporting

Recurring

Georgie is Lou and Peter's adopted daughter who was orphaned at age 3. After the foster care system separated her and her brother, Jeff, Georgie developed serious behavioral problems, though her behavior gradually improves. Georgie, a natural equestrian and a tomboy, is fearless, talented, strong-minded, and clever. This initially makes Mallory, a young family friend, jealous. Georgie grows close to the family but occasionally misbehaves, even running away once. In later seasons, Georgie joins the Extreme Team, a trick riding group, replacing show jumping as Georgie's main equestrian activity. She develops romantic feelings for Adam Parker, her tutor. Georgie and Adam briefly date but break up when Adam thinks she has feelings for Clay McMurtry. By seasons 14 and 15, she is in a relationship with newcomer Quinn. He encourages Georgie to revive her dream of competing in the Olympics. She begins training at his family's Florida ranch. Although billed as "main cast" during this time, Georgie later becomes more of a "recurring character" due to her infrequent visits back to Heartland. She was absent for all of season 15 and much of 16 after Newton left the main cast for nearly two seasons to pursue other acting opportunities. She returned for the last two episodes of season 16. Early on in season 16, Georgie gets into a riding accident during one of the competitions off screen that lead her to be nearly paralyzed. She returned to the ranch on screen at the end of season 16, after her character made a physical recovery to deal with the trauma of her accident.

Guest or former cast

Main

Episodes

Filming locations

Much of the series is filmed on location in and around High River, Alberta, with additional filming in studio and on location in nearby Calgary. A June 2013 flood in High River swamped the standing set for Maggie's Diner. The main Heartland sets escaped damage, and seventh season scripts were rewritten to move shooting locations for the fictional town of Hudson to Inglewood, a historic neighborhood in downtown Calgary. A month after the flood, the show's Calgary studios offered behind-the-scenes tours to paying fans for a one-day "Heartlanders for High River" fundraiser, providing $80,000 to help the town recover. Heartland filmed some of its interiors at an abandoned military base, Currie Barracks, scheduled for redevelopment.

Home media

Entertainment One has released the first seven seasons of Heartland on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only). The standalone TV movie A Heartland Christmas was released on DVD in Canada on November 1, 2011 and in the United States on October 29, 2013. Season 8 was released in Canada on October 6, 2015. In Region 2, 4Digital Media has released the first 6 seasons on DVD in the UK. In Region 4, Season 1 and Season 2 Parts 1 and 2 have been released by Roadshow Home Video.

Reception

Ratings

In its series premiere, Heartland beat Global's comedy Da Kink in My Hair with 513,000 viewers in a battle of two new series. After four episodes, Heartland had an average viewership of 464,000. In its first-season finale, Heartland attracted 625,000 viewers. The third-season premiere brought in over one million viewers, a new record for the show. The 100th episode "After All We've Been Through" was watched by 945,000 viewers.

Accolades

Spin-off web series

A six-part spin-off web series titled Hudson with Jade Virani as the protagonist was released on CBC Gem on March 31, 2019. It won the Best Web Series award at the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers's second annual Stinger Awards.