Jack Wagner — the actor behind the heroic Bill Avery of “When Calls the Heart” — played a shockingly different character on “Melrose Place.” From 1992 to 1999, the prime-time Fox soap opera “Melrose Place” followed the adult residents of the 4616 Melrose Place apartment complex in Los Angeles, detailing their lurid adventures in love, life, and sex. Wagner joined the cast of “Melrose Place” in 1994 as Peter Burns, a doctor whose no-nonsense persona was later revealed to conceal a sinister interior. Although Burns eventually redeemed himself, the doctor’s dark past often threatened to lure him back into his villainous ways, lending him a complicated nature that would cement him as a favorite among many fans.
While his “Melrose Place” role may be one of his most prominent, Wagner was a certified soap opera veteran by the time he joined the cast of “When Calls the Heart” in 2014. His acting breakthrough first came in 1983 when he landed a part on “General Hospital” as rock musician Frisco Jones, and he has returned to his role of Nick Marone on the long-running CBS series “The Bold and the Beautiful” multiple times since 2003. Although Wagner told Us Magazine in 2025 that he would be open to reprising Burns, he “has not heard much about” the “Melrose Place” revival that was reportedly greenlit in 2024.
Jack Wagner tapped into his soap opera past for Bill Avery’s romantic arc on When Calls the Heart
While the wholesome romantic drama of “When Calls the Heart” may stand in stark contrast to the steamy scandals of shows like “Melrose Place” or “The Bold and the Beautiful,” Wagner’s prior soap opera experience ultimately informed some of his favorite aspects of Judge Bill Avery’s character. In a 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly that took place shortly after the “When Calls the Heart” Season 12 finale, Jack Wagner shared that Avery’s recent short-lived romantic arc offered him the opportunity to “exercise” acting muscles that had “been a little dormant for a while.”
“The difference in being able to do ‘The Bold and the Beautiful,’ coming back as Nick, are the layers. [Nick] is completely about romance,” Wagner said. Wagner added that, despite being nothing but “grateful” for his 13-season run on the Hallmark Channel drama, there had been “really nothing romantic” for his “When Calls the Heart” character until Melissa Gilbert’s forensic investigator Georgie McGill arrived in Hope Valley in Season 12.
“[Bill and Georgie] have a backstory and a history, and I kissed her in the final episode last year,” Wagner said. “So that sprung a whole well of romance for my character.”
Wagner returned to “The Bold and the Beautiful” as Nick Marone as recently as 2025. He is expected to continue his portrayal of Judge Bill Avery in “When Calls the Heart” Season 14, which is anticipated to premiere in 2027.