Cliffhangers can be kind of like mysteries. When any program on the 2023 TV schedule ends an episode or a season with a point that needs to be resolved, you’d surely hope for it to be wrapped up at some point in the future. Sadly, for fans of the series Mystery 101, that sort of resolution currently looks to be lost, thanks to Hallmark cancelling it without one last hurrah to tie off the loose ends left by 2021’s series finale.
Mystery 101’s Fate Was Finally Confirmed After Almost Two Years
In September 2021, Mystery 101: Deadly History aired on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and it left one hell of a cliffhanger in its wake. After seven adventures of the sort of “will they, or won’t they?” banter you’d expect from characters like Professor Amy Winslow (Jill Wagner) and Detective Travis Burke (Kristoffer Polaha), the couple actually looked to be headed down the path of “they will.” That is, it looked that way until the final scene involved a time jump that kicked off a new case: Travis investigating the death of Amy’s fiancé,
That has to be one of the worst ways to end a series, but due to a comment from HMM’s official Facebook feed, this fate has been apparently sealed. Here’s what the network’s social media presence wrote in response to a fan calling Mystery 101 the "best mystery series" that Hallmark has:
We loved making 'Mystery 101' and we’re so glad you enjoyed sleuthing along with us. We want to let you know that our talented sleuths have solved the last mystery and are off the case. In the coming weeks and months there are exciting new mysteries on the way that we know you'll love!
There wasn’t much better news coming from Kristoffer Polaha’s Twitter feed, as he too passed on the bad news. Though his announcement had an added flair that makes for a mystery of its own, as you’ll see below:
Well kids, looks like the cat’s out of the bag. #Mystery101 has solved its last mystery. You are the most incredibly supportive fans ever! We LOVE you! [Jill Wagner, Robin Thomas Grossman] & I had the most amazing time entertaining you by bringing Travis, Amy, & Graham to life. But…😉
We’ll come back to that wink in a little while, because that deserves some time to shine at the end of this Mystery 101 investigation. For now, let’s turn to the reactions that fans have put forth, decrying how this series was allowed to slip into the night without any closure.
The Passionate Responses Mystery 101’s Fans Have Shared On Social Media
As you could imagine, a cliffhanger of that size has kicked off a lot of talk. To start us off, Twitter user HAbbott4 brings up an interesting point when discussing Mystery 101’s cancellation, comparing it to another successful Hallmark mystery franchise that's also at a crossroads:
Second highest rated mystery series on @hallmarkmovie behind Aurora Teagarden and fans have been begging for a new installment to resolve the cliffhanger. Yet this is how the new Hallmark regime responds to fan requests.
“The new Hallmark regime” may be a reference to Executive Vice President of Programming Lisa Hamilton Daly, who has been part of pivoting Hallmark towards more inclusive content. The pivot stirred up a minor “culture war” between Hallmark and its competitor GAF, the network that has coincidentally seen Mystery 101 star Jill Wagner working on its metaphorical backlot.
Meanwhile, co-star Kristoffer Polaha (who has spoken about how he absolutely loves working for Hallmark Movies) has been going back and forth with fans in remarks that further tease how Amy and Travis could/should end. His conversation with fan LynnQC drops a pretty intriguing finale possibility:
- @LynnQC: "Gutted...If #HallmarkMysteries @hallmarkmovie are really not going to make #8, despite such ongoing loyal demand, at least please re-release #7 with those last few seconds removed. Just the happy ending 'I love you.' We love you Travis, Amy, Graham."
- @KrisPolaha: "Or shoot a wedding scene. We love a happy ending."
And this is where we come back to "The Wink." At the time of writing, Kristoffer Polaha hasn't divulged the intent of that emoji, and it's frustrating fans like podcasters/Hallmark enthusiasts meganandwendy. Alas, Polaha's detective skills apply to evading interrogations, as this was all they could get out of the man:
- @meganandwendy: "BUT WHAT DOES THAT WINK MEAN, Kristoffer??"
- @KristofferPolaha: "It means *wink*."
Perhaps Kristoffer Polaha’s knowing wink emoji is a hint that there’s hope for some sort of Mystery 101 table read of an eighth installment? Or since Jill Wagner has been working on projects over at rival network GAF (such as A Merry Christmas Wish and A Christmas Miracle for Daisy), is there a chance that the series could migrate over to that network?
It's not totally out of the realm of possibility, as the eighth Mystery 101 installment is already written. In an interview with TVShowsAce, writer John Christian Plummer assured the site that while the script for Amy Winslow and Travis Burke’s next adventure may not have been locked up tight, it exists!
Naturally, Plummer didn't spill the beans on any plot details, besides the fact that the big Amy/Travis cliffhanger would be resolved. However, he did give some background on the writing process that went into this story waiting to be told:
First, to put the Mystery 101 fans’ minds at ease, there is a story for #8 which is complex, wildly fun, touching, and fully resolves the cliffhanger at the end of #7. Before I wrote that story, I had some ideas about where to go with #8 that, after some effort, I realized didn’t actually work for Amy and Travis for lots of reasons. So I put all that aside and came up with the story that I have in my unlocked house for #8.
So there you have it: there was an intent to continue the Amy Winslow and Travis Burke story, but for some reason Hallmark Mysteries and Movies' top brass have decided to pass. With no sign that the network will reverse the cancellation, the most likely way that a renewal could happen might be via a rescue from an outside party, but that may be a long shot.
Still, with the eighth chapter already written, perhaps fans could someday get answers, even if not produced into an episode. Then again, Hallmark has found a way for the Aurora Teagarden mysteries to continue without Candace Cameron Bure, so perhaps there's hope for some kind of Mystery 101 future.
While Mystery 101 may be off of the docket, there’s still plenty of upcoming Hallmark movies that will keep audiences falling in love, looking for clues, or sometimes both. In the meantime, let’s hope that the Sleuthers searching for Amy and Travis’ happy ending arrive at that final destination sooner rather than later. This is unfortunately the time of year full of cancellations, and we already have a list of 2023 TV shows that could get cancelled.
