New Beginnings for Heartland Season 15

Hey Heartland fans! Can you believe a new season is right around the corner? Heartland Season 15 will premiere on Sunday, October 17th on CBC and will be available to stream on CBC Gem beginning at 7 p.m.

• Watch Heartland on CBC Gem for Free (Canada)

The Heartland cast and crew are still in production for Season 15. We hope you have followed #HLinProd on social media as the cast and crew continue to have fun on set together to create a beautiful and moving season, which we are all excited for you to see. Starting today, we'll be sharing more announcements and exciting news about the upcoming season – maybe even a few story line hints!

The Bartlett-Fleming family has learned a hard lesson: life is short and you have to live each day to the fullest. In season 15 of Heartland, they will put what they learned into practice. Last season, Amy said goodbye to the past. This season, she embraces the future - raising her daughter, working with the horses who continue to heal her, branching out into a new phase of her life and profession. She is moving forward and feels determined to leave a legacy. In fact, Jack, Lisa, Lou and Tim have all decided that now is not the time to pull back, but to ramp up, to create new dreams and fulfil old ones. And, as they always do, the family will pull together to help each other... and will ultimately end up stronger than ever. 

Like Amy, Lou is dealing with a lot of changes in her life including balancing her career, family and love life. Lou's children are getting older with a lot of changes ahead of them.

Behind the scenes, filming Heartland Season 15, there are also some changes for Lou's family. 

Ziya Matheson, who plays Katie, has decided to move forward to create new dreams in her own life and has departed from her role on Heartland. We are so thankful for the commitment that Ziya has dedicated to playing Lou's daughter on the show.  We may not realize how much time and effort goes into filming a season of Heartland and, while it is a lot of fun, it's also a significant time commitment and requires working long hours away from friends, family and others. We are grateful to Ziya for being part of the Heartland family. She will always be a beloved member of the Heartland cast, and we wish her the very best.

Ziya and her family shared, "We would like to thank you for the amazing opportunities and experiences the entire team of Heartland has given to Ziya. You will remain in our hearts and minds for many years to come."

Let's take a look at some of our favourite moments of Ziya Matheson as Katie:

Are you wondering what's next for Katie, Lou and the family? Come back and read next week's blog for all the details.