After Lori Loughlin's arrest as part of a college bribery scheme, the Hallmark Channel has fired her, and she probably won't return to Fuller House. The more time a particular actor spends on the screen, the more fans can sometimes falsely feel like they somehow know the person. Yet, as has been proven many times over in recent years, just because an actor is known for playing likeable characters in movies or on TV, doesn't mean those roles at all reflect that person's real life exploits.
The current case in point is Loughlin. While she's been acting regularly since the 1980s, and thus played a wide variety of parts, most of course know her best as the squeaky clean Aunt Becky on Full House and its Netflix revival Fuller House. However, it doesn't appear that Loughlin's real life is quite so spotless, at least according to the prosecutors behind the amusingly titled "Operation Varsity Blues," which arrested and charged no less than 50 people the other day for allegedly participating in a massive college bribery racket.
Related: Fuller House: Stephanie's Baby Can Lead To A Better Season 5
Loughlin was among those arrested and charged, as was former Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman. Loughlin's husband was also arrested, although Huffman's husband, Shameless lead William H. Macy, curiously wasn't. The fallout from this situation is coming swiftly for Loughlin, as Variety reports that the Hallmark Channel has fired her from various projects, and Deadline adds that it's likely Loughlin won't be asked back for Fuller House's upcoming fifth and final season.
On the Hallmark Channel front, Loughlin is now out of two lucrative ongoing jobs. She's lost her starring role in the drama series When Calls the Heart, and will no longer play the lead in Hallmark's Garage Sale Mysteries series of TV movies, of which Loughlin has starred in a whopping 15 installments to date. Additionally, this weekend's scheduled episode of When Calls the Heart has been pulled from the schedule for now, as producers try to figure out how to continue without Loughlin's character. However, they reportedly have no plans to cancel the show, one of their highest-rated programs.
While nothing final has been decided yet, Loughlin is - as mentioned above - also likely to get the axe from Fuller House. Her exit from the Netflix comedy probably won't be that hard to coordinate though, as season 5 actually hasn't been written yet, and Loughlin's Aunt Becky was only a recurring guest star anyway. One wonders though what bit of writing magic will be worked to explain why Uncle Jesse's wife is never around anymore when he comes to visit, as John Stamos is presumably still returning for season 5.