The family drama Heartland series is set to return for Season 20, and fans now finally know when the show is going to premiere on broadcast television, meaning that it will be coming to multiple streaming platforms (including Netflix) sometime after. Heartland has been a staple for many television fans since it first debuted in 2007. The series, which follows Amy Fleming and her sister, "Lou" Fleming, is based on the Heartland series of novels from author Lauren Brooke. Since 2014, Heartland has been the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in Canadian TV history.
When Does Season 20 of Heartland Come Out?
The Heartland series' official Instagram account recently confirmed that Season 20 of the hit family drama will premiere on Sunday, October 4 on CBC and CBC Gem. In the past, new episodes have been released at 7:00 p.m. ET, and while that has not been confirmed to be the same for Season 20, it is possible that it will follow that trend.
Notably, Louise "Lou" Fleming actress Michelle Morgan recently shared via Instagram that Heartland Season 20 officially wrapped filming by sharing a batch of photos and videos from the set. Based on the date of Morgan's post (September 3), it seems as though Season 20 finished filming on Wednesday, September 2.
While Heartland Season 20 will premiere on October 4 on CBC and CBC Gem, the upcoming installment of the drama series will not immediately begin streaming on UPTV and Netflix for quite some time.
While fans don't know what is going to happen in the upcoming season, actress Amber Marshall joined The Tom Green Farmcast to talk about Season 20 (as shared via YouTube), where she mentioned that "there is a general road map" for where the series goes year after year:
"And the biggest thing about Heartland and I think a lot of people don't realize when they're watching the show, because they fall in love with the family, they fall in love with the characters, but we are working actors on a television show. We're not a real family. And so, for certain characters that want to go and pursue other things, we have to find ways to either kill them off, send them off to Texas, whatever it might be. We have to be creative, but also honor the fans who believe in these characters and don't want these characters to leave. But overall, the writers try to arc the season so that we know where we're going the year after and the year after that. So, that there is a general road map, a plan I guess you could say."
Marshall also expressed interest in Heartland continuing for years to come, saying, "Season 40, here we come."
When Netflix Is Expected to Release Heartland Season 20
Heartland and Netflix have not announced when Season 20 will come to the streaming platform. All previous seasons of the show are already available to watch on Netflix, but new seasons are not added immediately after they premiere on broadcast TV.
However, when looking at the initial release dates for past seasons of Heartland, and then when those same seasons began streaming on Netflix, one can get an idea of when Season 20 will potentially be available to watch on that platform.
For example, Heartland Season 16 premiered on CBC on October 2, 2022. Two years later, Season 16 was finally added to Netflix in June 2024. Specifically, that is a 20-month gap between the season's initial release date and its Netflix premiere.
Season 17 debuted on CBC on October 1, 2023, and was then added to the Netflix streaming library on September 15, 2025. That means there were 23 months between the premieres of that installment.
Similarly, Season 18 of Heartland first debuted on CBC on October 6, 2024. It then came to Netflix on February 1, 2026. Notably, the gap between those two dates is only 16 months, which is substantially shorter than the gaps between the release dates for previous seasons.
However, everything changed with Season 19. Heartland Season 19 premiered on CBC on October 5, 2025. It just recently got added to Netflix's library on September 1, meaning that there were only 11 months between its CBC debut and when it was added to Netflix.
Therefore, considering the gaps between the CBC and Netflix premiere dates have gotten substantially shorter with each of the past two seasons, one has to assume that Season 20 will be added to Netflix relatively soon, and possibly within a year.
The safest prediction for when it will be released is to simply say sometime in late 2027. It is possible that it could premiere on the streaming platform as early as September, since Season 19 was added to Netflix the September after it premiered on CBC. However, it is also possible that Netflix won't receive Season 20 until October, November, or December (however, it is possible that it could be pushed back to 2028). So, to be safe, one should assume that Heartland Season 20 will be added to Netflix sometime in late 2027.
Up Faith and Family Will Start Streaming Heartland Season 20 Early - But When?
While Heartland will begin streaming on Netflix at some point after its CBC premiere, the upcoming season of the family drama will actually start streaming on UPTV even sooner.
In past years, UPTV has begun streaming the latest Heartland seasons months before Netflix, so that will remain the same for Season 20.
For instance, with Season 16, Heartland premiered on CBC on October 2, 2022. It was then made available to stream on UPTV on August 6, 2023.
Season 17 came out on CBC on October 1, 2023. On April 25, 2024, it began streaming on UPTV.
Season 18's CBC premiere happened on October 6, 2024, and it was then added to UPTV on January 8, 2025.
Most recently, Season 19 debuted on CBC on October 5, 2025, and was officially made available on UPTV on March 19, 2026.
Obviously, new Heartland seasons begin streaming on UPTV much sooner than they do on Netflix, meaning that Season 20 will likely begin streaming sometime in early 2027 on that platform. More specifically, fans will likely get to see the upcoming season of the show on UPTV sometime around Spring 2027.
