Luke Macfarlane Plans to ‘Get Really Sweaty’ in New Hallmark Series & We Are Here For It

If Hallmark star Luke Macfarlane keeps his word, there’s going to a lot of swooning happening in March 2025. That’s when his new unscripted Hallmark renovation series, “Home is Where the Heart Is,” is set to debut on Hallmark+. On January 30, he told Variety that viewers will see him “get really sweaty” week after week.

Hallmark has revealed the previously announced show will debut on March 20 when the first two episodes begin streaming. Macfarlane, who returned to making Hallmark rom-coms in 2023 after a year-long break from the network, told Variety that he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty on the show. In fact, he demanded it.

Actor Luke Macfarlane Says He’s Also a ‘Builder and a Maker’

An accomplished woodworker, Macfarlane and designer Olivia Westbrooks will work together in each episode to help a family update a “once-glorious house that has either been inherited or holds special meaning to them, but is long overdue for some TLC,” per a Hallmark press release.

But as one of the show’s executive producers, Macfarlane didn’t want to show up as a slick-looking host; he wanted to get his hands dirty and break a sweat.

“I’ve always been a builder and a maker,” he told Variety, “and woodworking is my sort of material, but a very articulate, well-dressed man telling you what’s good and bad is not something that I am interested in.”

“I think we have a lot of wonderful examples on television of that,” he added, joking that some home improvement hosts put on a “renovation drag performance.”

“I understand why it happens — making TV is hard and there’s not a lot of time,” Macfarlane continued. “To get really sweaty is not always the cutest thing, but I was committed to that, especially knowing that this was the space that I wanted to sort of introduce myself into.”

Luke Macfarlane Says He’s Excited to Showcase His ‘Love of Woodworking’

Macfarlane stays relatively quiet on social media but occasionally shares projects he’s working on in his home workshop. In 2023, he made a crib from scratch for his newborn daughter, Tess, whom he shares with longtime partner, sports agent Hig Roberts.

For his new series, Macfarlane crafted a special, meaningful heirloom for each family, he told Variety.

“The process of getting to know somebody by drawing them out is always so much deeper and so much more satisfying than the process of telling somebody what they should or shouldn’t know,” he said.

On January 30, Macfarlane shared the series poster for “Home Is Where the Heart Is” in his Instagram Stories and wrote above it, “Finally getting a chance to bring some of my love of woodworking to television.”

“Home Is Where the Heart Is” premieres on Hallmark+ on March 20, with two episodes. After that, a new episode will debut each Thursday.