Longtime Hallmark star Luke Macfarlane is more certain than ever there’s no place like home. Not only is the actor and woodworker loving the chance to help families feel more at home on his new Hallmark+ renovation show “Home Is Where The Heart Is,” but he’s also realized that the network has become an “amazing home” for him.
Macfarlane has made multiple media appearances to promote his new unscripted series, repeatedly gushing about how grateful he is to feel he’s right where he belongs at Hallmark — even if his younger self never would have predicted it.
Luke Macfarlane Says He’s ‘Incredibly Grateful’ to Hallmark For Letting Him Grow & Try New Things
Talking to “I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast host Tommy DiDario — in an interview posted on March 25, 2025 — Macfarlane said that when he was younger, he never would have believed that his career would lead to becoming a Hallmark star.
He explained, “I mean, if you had told me that Hallmark would become this amazing home for me — and it has, I’ve done 15 movies with them — I would probably (have asked) first of all, ‘What is Hallmark?’ And now it’s become this amazing platform for me to … be a romantic lead in these movies, but now it’s been a place for me to go, ‘Can I executive produce something?'”
Macfarlane, 45, marveled at how “all over the place” his acting career has been, from the Tony Award-winning Broadway show “Normal Heart” in 2011 to appearing on 100 episodes of “Brothers & Sisters” alongside co-stars like Sally Field.
It’s been so “varied,” he laughed, “Sometimes I look back on my IMDb page and try to remember the plot of some of the movies I’ve been in!”
Raising his nearly two-year-old daughter Tess with his partner Hig Roberts, Macfarlane expressed how grateful he is that Hallmark has let him grow and explore all kinds of roles in his movies.
“They gave me that opportunity,” he told DiDario. “You know, they let me be a romantic lead to many lovely ladies and then they let me be a romantic lead to a man (in 2024’s “Notes of Autumn”) and then they let me produce a show where I get to talk about woodworking! So I’m so incredibly grateful.”
As a gay actor, Macfarlane has never felt like he need to apologize for or hide his truth to fit in at Hallmark, which prides itself on being able to represent “all these different voices,” he told Pride Source in early March.
Macfarlane explained, “There’s room for our stories and those stories can still fit inside the brand of Hallmark, which has a really strong sense of identity — I would say a stronger sense of identity than almost most network brands.”
Luke Macfarlane Did Leave Hallmark Briefly in 2022, But Couldn’t Stay Away
GettyMacfarlane has always been complimentary of working for Hallmark, but he tried to step away from the network in the summer of 2022. Fans were shocked when he told the Los Angeles Times he had left Hallmark to pursue other projects — like co-starring with Billy Eichner in his first big screen comedy, “Bros.”
“They’ve been very good to me, but I think I’ve told my story for now with those folks,” Macfarlane told the outlet. “I mean, how many firefighters can I play?”
The movie didn’t perform as well as expected, but he moved on to co-star with Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne in the Apple TV+ series “Platonic,” and became a first-time dad in June of 2023. The time away from Hallmark made him realize something was missing.
“What’s been always fun about the Hallmark movies is how much leeway they give you and the pace,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in July 2023, announcing his return. “Talk about learning on the job. You gotta know what you’re doing when you show up because there is not a lot of time. We shoot them in 15 days, and they tend to overshoot so that they have their bases covered.”
Macfarlane also loves that he can branch out and do other projects while remaining part of Hallmark’s pool of top stars. He just finished filming the second season of “Platonic” as well as a zombie movie with Olivia Holt, but told DiDario he hopes 2025 includes starring in another Hallmark Christmas movie.
Until then, “Home Is Where The Heart Is” and all of Macfarlane’s Hallmark movies are available to stream on Hallmark+.
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Why Luke Macfarlane Never Would Have Predicted Feeling So At Home With Hallmark