As WCTH Season 12 comes to a close, one of the big storylines of this When Calls The Heart season is the unrequited romance between Bill Avery and Georgie McGill, portrayed by Jack Wagner and Melissa Gilbert. How did the General Hospital alum change the storyline for this romance? One of the writers for the Hallmark series shares his meaningful contribution.
How Jack Wagner Changed WCTH Bill And Georgie Romance
WCTH Season 12 included a very special guest star, Melissa Gilbert. The Little House On The Prairie star Plays Georgia “Georgie” McGill, someone from Bill Avery’s past. Although Melissa was only in two episodes of the 12-episode season, the Georgie and Bill romance was very special.
On Sunday, in the episode “Through The Valley,” there was an opportunity for Georgie and Bill to express their feelings for each other. Georgie shared how she loved that Bill “always treated women with such respect.” This led to her confession that she had feelings for him back when they were in school, and she still had those feelings.
Simultaneously, Bill told Georgie that he was in love with her. The two embraced for a very memorable kiss. Thanks to Jack Wagner, this kiss happened faster than the show’s writers had initially planned. According to an interview with The Official Hearties Aftershow, writer Joy Gregory revealed that this scene was written differently.
While in development, Jack Wagner was not a fan of the long conversation before this passionate kiss happened. Wagner told the writers, “I want to cut a lot of these lines before the kiss. I want them to do it [kiss]. Therefore, Gregory helped reduce the lines and turn the scene into one of the season’s highlights with less words, more action.
Bill And Georgie Is ‘The One Who Got Away’ Story
In addition to sharing how Jack Wagner was part of developing this key WCTH scene, writer Joy Gregory also discussed how the writer’s room came up with this storyline. “Well, first we realized, Melissa’s open to doing the show. Let’s come up with something for her. I love old flames stories. They’re irresistible. The one who got away.”
Therefore, Joy Gregory added, “The moment we pitched her as an old flame of Bill’s, we knew it was going to end with what Lindsay [Sturman, showrunner] kept calling the ‘007 kiss.”
Although Melissa Gilbert will not be back the remainder of the season, Gregory hopes there will be another season and Melissa Gilbert will return. !I’d love to explore more of this between them if we get the chance to.”
It feels so fraught when you get to find out what would happen if I really tried to make it happen with the one who got away. It might not work!
When Calls The Heart is available to stream on Hallmark+ including this episode with the “´007 kiss”
Georgia Makitalo has several decades of writing experience, including travel writing, tech writing, art history analysis, and now entertainment writing. She loves to share the latest news on romcoms and mysteries.