Lori Loughlin Books First Post-Prison Acting Role After College Admissions Scandal

While her daughter Olivia Jade is Viennese waltz-ing back into everyone’s good graces, Lori Loughlin is also eyeing a return to the spotlight after serving prison time for her role in the college admissions bribery scandal.

The “Full House” alum has landed her first acting gig since she was discharged from a federal correctional facility in May, reprising her role from the Hallmark Channel’s hit series “When Calls the Heart” in an upcoming episode of its spinoff, according to Deadline.

Loughlin will once again play Abigail Stanton in the second season opener of “When Hope Calls,” which will now air on the new network GAC Family, formerly known as the Great American Country Network.

The star is set to make a guest appearance as her character in the two-part premiere titled “When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas,” which will debut on Dec. 18.

The Mercury News reported earlier this month that Loughlin, who is currently on probation, was given permission to travel to Canada for “a filming production project” spanning about one week.

In May 2020, Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud for paying $500,000 in bribes to fixer Rick Singer to secure admission for both their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, at the University of Southern California. The two were flagged as rowing recruits, though neither had participated in the sport.

The actor served nearly two months in prison before she was released in December, while the fashion designer ended his five-month sentence, part of which he spent in home confinement, in April.

After news of the admissions scandal broke in March of 2019, Loughlin was immediately dropped by Hallmark, where she had starred in numerous films and television shows in recent years, including “When Calls the Heart” and “Garage Sale Mysteries.”

The network also chose to pull all Loughlin-related productions from the air, in addition to editing her out of the remaining episodes of the frontier drama’s sixth season. When the show returned later in the year from a “creative hiatus,” Loughlin’s character was written out of the series with her departure hastily explained in a letter.

But Loughlin isn’t the only one getting back to work now. “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, who was also sentenced in the nationwide admissions scam, has since landed a leading role in an upcoming ABC series.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.