From 2015 to 2022, actress Candace Cameron Bure played Hallmark‘s amateur crime-solver Aurora Teagarden in a series of 18 fan-favorite mystery movies. But the actress just threw a bit of shade at the beloved character she helped create.
Bure, an executive producer on the “Aurora” movies, left her starring role behind when she departed Hallmark in 2022 to join Great American Family (GAF). While she stars in romcoms there and serves as the fledgling network’s Chief Creative Officer, the “Aurora” franchise remains popular at her old network, still frequently airing on Hallmark Mystery and inspiring several prequel movies starring Skyler Samuels as a young Aurora.
Bure distanced herself from that legacy while promoting her first mystery movie on GAF, “The Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Winemaker,” which makes its TV premiere on October 5, 2024. As Bure promoted her new project, she downplayed the movies she used to star in during an interview with TV Insider, repeatedly claiming that her new character and the movies she appears in at GAF are “more mature” than her prior projects.
Candace Cameron Bure Says She Wanted to Play a ‘Different’ Kind of Character
In an interview published on October 4, Bure told TV Insider that she’s thrilled to return to a mystery franchise, revealing that she has already filmed a second “Ainsley McGregor” movie. According to Prensario International, two more movies — “A Case for the Yarn Maker” and “A Case for the Watchmaker” are slated for 2025 premieres.
Though Bure referenced her old “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries” throughout her interview with TV Insider, she never mentioned the franchise or Hallmark by name.
“I love the mystery genre and played a character for many, many movies over 10 years,” she told the outlet. “So going back into the mystery genre, I really wanted to find a character that felt different, one that I could resonate with, and also that the dynamics of the other relationships were really interesting to me.”
Based on a book series by Charlaine Harris, the “Aurora Teagarden” movies follow a young librarian with a penchant for solving small town murders. But Bure told TV Insider that her new “Ainsley McGregor” character is “more mature” because she’s a criminologist with the training to solve murders.
“I love that Ainsley McGregor is a criminologist, so she, by trade, is trying to solve mysteries,” Bure said, adding that her character is also an artist in her spare time, with an online creative shop. “She teaches classes at a college, and then she’s also this woman who is an entrepreneur.”
Continuing to compare Ainsley to past characters, Bure said, “She’s much more thoughtful because she has a criminology background. She isn’t just this kind of brute force that comes in that’s all action. She’s very, very thoughtful. She puts the pieces of the puzzle together, and it’s really by analyzing everything and thinking it all through. But when it comes to protecting someone or saving something or trying to solve the case at the end, she’s all in.”
Candace Cameron Bure Also Says the Relationships in Her New Mysteries are ‘More Mature’ Than in Her Past Movies
HallmarkMarilu Henner and Skyler Samuels in ‘Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New’
According to TV Insider, Bure’s romantic interest in the new mystery is Ainsley’s brother’s best friend, which Bure called “a fun little dynamic that we will play out and stream along in several movies.”
Without mentioning Hallmark specifically, where she starred in a total of 30 movies, Bure subtly dissed her old role again by remarking, “I really feel like this mystery series is just a more mature version than the ones I’ve done in the past, not only in the elements of the mystery itself, but also within relationships.”
In May, Bure did share some kind words about her time at Hallmark in her Instagram Stories, according to Soaps, when she answered a fan’s question about why she left Hallmark.
“It wasn’t so much about leaving as it was about an opportunity to grow a new network that puts faith and family at the forefront of its content,” she wrote. “I’m very proud of the work I did at Hallmark for 15 years and love all my friends there 🥰”
Bure has not commented publicly about Hallmark’s “Aurora Teagarden” prequels starring Samuels and her former co-star Marilu Henner, but Samuels has admitted it was nerve-racking to take on the role for the first prequel, “Something New,” in 2023.
“I was excited because I love a challenge, but I also was a little nervous because I understood that there was this longstanding fan base,” Samuels told Us Weekly in August. “I think some people were, like, super excited for me right off the bat and others were like, ‘We’ll see, like, deliver the product and we’ll weigh in.’”
Samuels now stars in two more movies in the franchise; “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Lesson in Murder” started streaming on Hallmark+ on October 3, and “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Death at the Diner” will be available to stream starting October 10.
Meanwhile, Bure’s first “Ainsley McGregor Mysteries” movie airs on Great American Family on October 5.
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