Who Is the New Aurora Teagarden? This Lifetime Star Is Replacing Candace Cameron Bure After 18 Movies

She’s back! There’s a new Aurora Teagarden in Lawrenceton a year after Candace Cameron Bure announced she was leaving the role (and Hallmark) for good.

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries is a movie series on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries based on Charlaine Harris’ 11 mystery books of the same name. The books, which were published between 1990 and 2017, follow Aurora Teagarden, a professional librarian at Lawrenceton Public Library who runs the Real Murders Club, a group of true crime fans who come together to study famous crimes throughout the history of their small town.The series starred Candace Cameron Bure and premiered in 2015 with its first film, Aurora Teagarden Mystery: A Bone Pick. Bure went on to star in 18 Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies until her final film, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder, in 2022.

A year after the last Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movie, Hallmark announced that a new Aurora Teagarden had been cast to replace Bure after she left the network to join Great American Media. So who is the new Aurora Teagarden and why was Candace Cameron Bure replaced? Read on for what we know about the new Aurora Teagarden and why Bure left Hallmark in the first place.

Who is the new Aurora Teagarden in the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies?

Who is the new Aurora Teagarden in the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries? Hallmark Movies & Mysteries announced on March 9, 2023, that actress Skyler Samuels had been recast as Aurora Teagarden after Candace Cameron Bure, who originated the role in 2014, left the movie series in 2022. In a statement to TV Line, Hallmark revealed that Samuels is set to star as a younger version of the character in Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New, a prequel to Bure’s Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies and the 19th film in the series overall. The prequel cast also includes Evan Roderick (best known for shows like Arrow and Spinning Out) as a younger version of Arthur Smith (played by Peter Benson in Buree’s movies), and Marilu Henner, who is set to reprise her role as Aurora’s mother, Aida Teagarden. A release date for Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New has yet to be announced.

“Our viewers have been waiting for more adventures with Aurora and her friends,” Emily Merlin, Development Manager of Programming at Hallmark Media, said in a statement to TV Line at the time. “What better way to do that than to take them back to when the young, amateur sleuth was just coming into her own? The Aurora Teagarden franchise is a fan favorite and we’re excited to share this new chapter with viewers.”

According to a description by Hallmark, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New is set in Aurora’s “post-college days when she finds herself back home in Lawrenceton. While her mother, Aida, struggles to keep her newfound real estate business, Aurora supports herself by working as a teacher’s assistant in a crime fiction class, and waitresses at the local diner at night, where she shares her love of researching true crime with her friend Sally and police officer Arthur.” The description continues, “When Sally’s fiancé doesn’t show up at their wedding rehearsal, Maid of Honor Aurora gets Arthur to help her search for him. When they discover a body, everyone assumes it is Sally’s tardy groom, but when it turns out to be someone else, Sally’s fiancé becomes the main suspect.”

Who is Skyler Samuels, the new Aurora Teagarden? Samuels is an actress best known for starring in TV shows like Wizards of Waverly Place, The Gates, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, The Gifted, American Horror Story and Scream Queens, in which she played lead character, Grace Gardner. Samuels also starred as Gabby Petito in Lifetime’s The Gabby Petito Story in 2022. The movie, which she also executive produced, followed the murder and disappearance of Petito, a woman who was killed by her fiance, Brian Laundrie, at the age of 22 while they were traveling on road trip across the United States in 2021.

“When I was presented with the opportunity to portray Gabby I was admittedly quite overwhelmed and it was a hard decision to make,” Samuels told Entertainment Tonight in 2022.  “It’s a big responsibility to play someone who was alive.”

Why did Candace Cameron Bure leave the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies?

Why did Candace Cameron Bure leave the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies? News broke that Buree was leaving the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries series in April 2022 after Great American Media—which owns cable networks Great American Family and Great American Living—announced that she had signed a deal with GAC to develop, produce and star in movies and television shows across its networks. Along with developing original content through her production company, Candy Rock Entertainment, Bure was also hired in an executive role at GAC to help curate programming for the network, including creating year-round seasonal celebration content and having a part in GAC’s annual Great American Christmas programming.

The deal also ended Bure’s relationship with Hallmark Channel, which she’d filmed 29 movies for over the course of 10 years, including 18 Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies. “Crown Media has enjoyed over 10 years of collaboration with Candace,” a representative for Hallmark Channel’s parent company, Crown Media, told TV line in a statement at the tie. “We respect her decision and thank her for her many contributions.”

In her own statement to Variety, Bure explained why she left Hallmark for GAC. “I’m very excited to develop heartwarming family and faith-filled programming and make the kind of stories my family and I love to watch. I am constantly looking for ways that I can inspire people to live life with purpose,” she said. She continued, “GAC fits my brand perfectly; we share a vision of creating compelling wholesome content for an audience who wants to watch programming for and with the whole family. Great, quality entertainment with a positive message is what my partnership with GAC is all about.”

Bill, the president and CEO of GAC Media (and the former president of Crown Media), also told Variety in a statement: “Candace is adored by generations of fans as one of family entertainment’s most cherished and relatable stars. She has helped build this genre into the mainstream success it is today, and I look forward to working together at GAC Media as we further establish our brands as leaders in quality family programming. I am truly honored that she has chosen to be a part of and help curate her special brand of family entertainment here at Great American Channels.”

Before her deal with GAC, Bure starred in 18 Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies. Her first film, Aurora Teagarden Mystery: A Bone to Pick, aired on April 4, 2015, while her last film, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder, aired on February 20, 2022.

The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies are available to stream on Hallmark Movies Now. 

For more on Hallmark movies, check out our photo gallery of the top 10 Hallmark hotties that made us swoon.