Entertainment & Culture
Author: anonymDate: 2024-12-11 12:12:23
It's a Hallmark Channel Yuletide celebration! See the luminaries gracing the network's winter festivities.
Forty-seven original movies and four festive-themed TV shows dominate the Hallmark schedule.
It's the season of goodwill for Hallmark! As the temperature drops and holiday ornaments appear, it's the ideal time to relax by the hearth with a delightful selection of Hallmark Channel Christmas films. This year, a lineup of 47 original movies and four celebratory TV programs dominate the Hallmark schedule — in this instance, abundance is truly a blessing.
From familiar festive themes to predictable narratives, Hallmark continues to capitalize on its audience's enduring appeal while expanding its storytelling scope and diversifying its narrative approach to its holiday movies. Even as the network aims to broaden its talent pool, Hallmark still relies on its favored stars, such as Lacey Chabert, Nikki DeLoach, Paul Campbell, and Andrew Walker, to provide consistency and maintain viewer engagement.
“They understand their value here and that they’re guaranteed a Christmas movie,” Hallmark programming executive Lisa Hamilton Daly stated regarding the network’s mainstays on the Hallmark Mysteries & More podcast in March.
With Hallmark’s holiday programming in full swing, meet eight of the network’s leading attractions.
Lacey Chabert
One movie
Hallmark Channel’s (premieres Dec. 1)
Chabert retains her title as “the Queen of Hallmark,” but this year the network mainstay stars in only one original holiday film — the forthcoming Icelandic romantic adventure The Christmas Quest, opposite Kristoffer Polaha.
The 42-year-old actress, who headlined two prominent Hallmark projects last season (and still holds the network record for most holiday movies, with 16), ventured beyond her comfort zone, starring in the Netflix original holiday film Hot Frosty, which revolves around a widow who falls in love with a snowman. Earlier this autumn, Chabert hosted the feel-good unscripted show Celebrations With Lacey Chabert for Hallmark+, the rebranded streaming platform for Hallmark.
Sarah Drew
One TV series
Hallmark+’s (new episodes through Dec. 5)
The Grey’s Anatomy alumna has alternated between Hallmark and Lifetime during the festive season, and this year is no exception. Drew co-authored A Carpenter Christmas Romance for Lifetime, an unofficial sequel to 2023’s daring romance featuring the first intimate scene in a holiday film for the network.
For Hallmark this season, Drew leads the six-part detective series Mistletoe Murders, where she portrays a year-round Christmas gift shop proprietor with a secret who becomes embroiled in a series of local killings.
Donna Kelce
Two movies
Hallmark Channel’s (premieres Nov. 22) and (premieres Nov. 30)
Mama Kelce isn’t your typical Hallmark star, but her substantial appearances in two films merit recognition. She revealed earlier this year that her younger son, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, was unaware of her two Hallmark roles.
“I don’t even think he knew I was doing it,” Kelce told People in September. “He was like, ‘Really, mom?’ "I’m like, ‘Yeah, I just tested the waters.’”
Both of her Hallmark roles have connections to Travis and to Jason Kelce, her elder son, who retired from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023. In Christmas on Call, set in Philadelphia, Kelce plays an employee at a Philly cheesesteak establishment. In Holiday Touchdown, she portrays a small-town Kansas City diner owner named — you guessed it — Donna.
Erin Krakow
One movie
Hallmark Channel’s (reairs Nov. 24)
When Calls the Heart’s leading lady is a mainstay in Hallmark movie offerings. Krakow’s contribution this year is an onscreen reunion with her former When Calls the Heart co-star and romantic interest Daniel Lissing in Santa Tell Me.
In the film, she plays a woman who receives a letter from Santa stating that she will find the love of her life, a man named Nick, by Christmas Eve. But these things rarely unfold as planned, as Krakow’s character discovers.
Krakow credits Hallmark for reuniting her and Lissing, telling Swoon, “They felt it would be truly enjoyable for us to reunite on a more contemporary project.”
Jonathan Bennett
One movie, one TV series
Hallmark+’s (new episodes through Dec. 19) and Hallmark+’s (premieres Dec. 5)
The word “busy” inadequately describes Bennett's past few months with Hallmark. After completing its first male-centric movie trilogy, The Groomsmen, the Mean Girls star transitioned to hosting (and executive producing) Hallmark’s first reality competition series, Finding Mr. Christmas, which pits 10 average guys against each other for the title of the next “Hallmark heartthrob.”
He also reprises his role from 2023’s Christmas on Cherry Lane in one of three follow-up films, Season’s Greetings From Cherry Lane, as he continues to advocate for increased LGBTQ representation at Hallmark.
Wes Brown
One movie (and a brief cameo in another), one TV series
Hallmark Channel’s (premieres Nov. 29) and Hallmark+’s (premieres Dec. 12)
Since joining the network in 2011, Brown has starred in at least one Hallmark original almost every year, accumulating an impressive 20 credits, including the Haul Out the Holly series.
The 42-year-old actor, whose previous roles include appearances on True Blood, Hart of Dixie and Once Upon a Time, can be seen as a contractor reluctantly reunited with his childhood rival in Deck the Walls, as well as in a fleeting cameo in Holiday Touchdown.
Brown also showcases his hosting abilities in the three-part unscripted series Ready, Set, Glow!, which features the most spectacular light displays nationwide.
Tyler Hynes
Two movies
Hallmark Channel’s (premieres Nov. 23) and (premieres Nov. 30)
Featured as one of Yahoo Entertainment’s 2023 Hallmark all-stars, Hynes returns to the list — and the 38-year-old actor is busier than ever. He headlines two of the network’s Christmas mainstays, Three Wiser Men and a Boy, the anticipated sequel to 2022’s most-watched original cable movie, and Holiday Touchdown, where he plays the Kansas City Chiefs’ director of fan engagement tasked with finding the Fan of the Year and interacts with head coach Andy Reid and several Chiefs players. (No Travis, unfortunately.)
His continued rise within the Hallmark ranks since first joining in 2018 isn’t unnoticed by Hynes.
“I’m clear on my motivations, so that I might contribute meaningfully and not just rest on past achievements,” he tells Yahoo Entertainment. “Or at least give my all, so that if I fail, at least I know I did my utmost. I’m going to try to keep striving in that direction as much as possible.”
Andrew Walker
Two movies
Hallmark Channel’s (reairs Nov. 22) and (premieres Nov. 23)
Like Chabert and Hynes, Walker is a frequent presence on Hallmark — and a returning Hallmark all-star. At any time of year, but especially during the network’s signature “Countdown to Christmas” programming event, the Canadian actor is very likely to grace the screen.
You’ll find him in two Christmastime narratives this festive season: the family-focused Three Wiser Men and a Boy, where he reprises his role as a firefighter turned father, and the reality TV competition-inspired Jingle Bell Run, in which he portrays an ex-hockey player.