Steve Bacic on the Garage Sale Mysteries Return: “You Had to Pinch Me”
Jason Shannon is back, y’all. After seven years away, Steve Bacic returns opposite Lori Loughlin in Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage, premiering Saturday, September 19, 2026 on Hallmark Mystery.
We got a few minutes with Steve ahead of the premiere, and he was so generous with them. We talked about what it felt like to walk back onto that set after everyone had scattered, and about the one thing he’d really love to do in a future installment. (It involves a dance-off. We are fully on board.)
Listen to the full conversation in our mini episode above, or keep reading for the highlights.
Coming back after seven years felt like Christmas
The series ran sixteen films between 2013 and 2019 before it ended. So when word came that Hallmark was bringing it back, Steve’s first reaction wasn’t excitement. It was disbelief.
“You had to pinch me. Is this really happening?”
He was nervous, too. After that long a stretch, he’d fallen out of touch with most of the cast and crew.
“We all kind of went our separate ways, and it was almost like Christmas, you know? Who’s gonna be there? When are we gonna be there?”
The answer turned out to be almost everybody. Lori Loughlin, Kevin O’Grady, Sarah Strange, Connor Stanhope, and Eva Bourne all came back, along with a good chunk of the original crew.
“It was like we were just, ‘Let’s just continue.’ It was awesome. All the way from even our drivers.”
The drivers knew more than he did
Okay, this is the part that made us laugh out loud. Steve found out how big this return was from the people driving him to set.
“Some of our drivers knew about the excitement. They were in chat rooms and forums that way, and they knew more about it than I knew about it. So there was a little bit of heat, which was also making me a little nervous because I’m going, ‘Oh, the expectations are gonna be high.'”
Sir, you have no idea. Hallmark fandom does not mess around.
A new writer and director, but the same show
Murder Takes the Stage brings in a new creative team, with a script from Teena Booth and a new director in Paula Elle, who Steve has known for years. That’s the kind of change that can break a long-running franchise. It didn’t.
Steve never met Booth in person (“the writer I didn’t get a chance to meet”), but he says the collaborative feel of the earlier films carried right through the handoff.
“She’s also from the school of let’s come together and let’s make this the best dang thing we can make.”
The word he landed on was cohesive.
“It’s not bumpy. It’s not like, ‘Oh, is this a different show?’ No, this is the same show.”
What impressed him most was that Elle was willing to hand the veterans some rope.
“She definitely did her homework, but was able to also allow us to play, which is nice to have that trust. And that’s tough for someone coming into it as a newbie.”
Never seen a Garage Sale Mystery? Start here.
Sixteen previous movies is a lot of homework for anyone tuning in cold. So we asked Steve where a brand new viewer should start, without assigning them a sixteen-movie cram session before Saturday.
His answer: don’t bother catching up first.
“I think watch this one. Let’s stay current. When I love a show, sometimes I’ll jump in a little bit later, and I’ll go, ‘Okay, I gotta go back and see how this got here.’ So I wouldn’t wait. Watch the movie on September 19th, and then go back and watch them all. See how we got here.”
Or as Steve also put it: start with the icing, then eat the cake.
Did You See That: the dance-off that almost was
Our Did You See That segment is all about the moments casual viewers miss, so of course we asked whether there’s anything specific to watch for. Steve hadn’t seen the finished cut yet, but he did tell on himself a little.
“I am trying to incorporate some stuff from my real life. I don’t know if it made it, though… I’m a freestyle dancer.”
He would like the record to reflect that this is a bit.
“That’s a joke. I’m not RayGun. I’m not gonna breakdance.”
And then he pitched the spinoff we now desperately need:
“I think me and Kevin O’Grady should do a dance-off.”
The script writes itself.
Is Steve Bacic actually good at solving mysteries?
Jennifer Shannon cracks the case every single time. We had to know whether the man playing her husband is any good at it in real life.
“I would say I am as good, because I do love a good mystery. If I’m given all the information. If I’ve paid attention.”
Working in the business helps him and ruins it for him at the same time.
“You can see the red herrings. I don’t wanna be watching for that. I wanna be taken away, you know? I wanna be pulled into it.”
He does give today’s mystery writers their due, though.
“Sometimes there’s a mislead to mislead the mislead. Audiences are sophisticated now.”
What he wants you to know going in
We closed by asking what he’d want viewers to carry into the premiere. He came right back to the gap, and to how completely it vanished once everyone was in the room.
“It was like we hadn’t had the seven-year gap. If anything, it felt like the cast and crew were more cohesive, more connected. We were able to bounce off each other, and I think that it translates. I think it’s gonna translate into a very enjoyable hour and a half of their life, where they can go back to visiting with the Shannons.”
He also thinks this one might be the funniest entry in the whole franchise, but the funny has to be handled with care.
“When you’re talking about murder, you wanna walk the line. That’s the fine balance, and I think Hallmark does it very well.”
Which led, inevitably, to a pitch for the next title. Steve on Lori Loughlin:
“She’s such a lovely person, and you get distracted. Oh, there’s a murder? What about that smile? Let’s have them over for dinner, honey.”
Meatloaf and Murder. You heard it here first.
How to watch Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage
- Premieres: Saturday, September 19, 2026 at [TIME] on Hallmark Mystery
- Written by: Teena Booth
- Directed by: Paula Elle
- Starring: Lori Loughlin as Jennifer Shannon, Steve Bacic as Jason Shannon, Sarah Strange as Dani, Kevin O’Grady as Detective Frank Lynwood, Eva Bourne as Hannah, Connor Stanhope as Logan
- Streaming: Available on Hallmark+ following the premiere
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Jason Shannon in Garage Sale Mysteries?
Steve Bacic has played Jason Shannon, Jennifer’s engineer husband, since the second film in the series. Rick Ravanello played the role in the 2013 pilot.
How long has it been since the last Garage Sale Mystery movie?
Seven years. The franchise ran from 2013 to 2019 across sixteen films before ending, and Hallmark renewed it in June 2026.
Do I need to watch the earlier movies first?
Nope. The films stand alone, and Steve Bacic’s own advice is to start with Murder Takes the Stage and work your way backward.
Is Lori Loughlin in the new Garage Sale Mysteries movie?
She is. Lori Loughlin returns as Jennifer Shannon, the antiques dealer at the center of the franchise.
More Chats with Hallmark Stars
- Tamera Mowry Housley on Haunted Harmony Mysteries
- Alvina August and Nathan Witte on Falling into Place
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