It’s been 16 years since John Wells, executive producer of NBC’s long-running drama “ER,” saw something special in a chemistry read between future Hallmark stars Andrew Walker and Rachel Boston. He cast them as a couple for a particularly intense episode of the hit show, and a beautiful friendship was born.
“John Wells saw something in us with our chemistry all those years ago, and trusted us with a delicate subject matter, and now here we are again,” Walker told EntertainmentNow, marveling that the two have been paired up for a third time in their careers, co-starring in Hallmark Channel’s “Adventures in Love and Birding” on September 27, 2025.
The duo also co-starred in a 2018 Lifetime movie, “A Christmas in Tennessee,” but have since become two of Hallmark’s biggest stars, thrilled to reunite onscreen again for their first Hallmark movie together.
VIDEO: Andrew Walker & Rachel Boston in ‘Complex and Beautiful’ Episode of ‘ER’ in 2008
In their 2008 “ER” episode, called “Status Quo,” Boston plays a female soldier who’s been home for two weeks from Iraq and learns she’s two months pregnant. Walker, who plays her husband, demands an explanation from his wife, and she eventually reveals, in an emotionally raw scene, that she was raped by a supervisor.
In the summer of 2025, Boston and Walker filmed “Adventures in Love and Birding,” a far less intense storyline but just as rewarding to tell, she said. She dug up old clips from their “ER” episode for fun, splicing a couple of scenes together (seen above).
“To see this flashback from working on a show as a couple, long before our rom-coms, is so cool,” Boston told EntertainmentNow. “I am so grateful to be able to show the complex and beautiful story on ‘ER,’ but I’m also so happy that (‘Adventures in Love and Birding’) is a lighter, happier story. We’re literally out in the woods, in nature, and it was just fantastic knowing (Walker) so well that we could just lean in from day one.”
Rachel Boston & Andrew Walker Say Their New Movie Portrays a Different Kind of Resilience Than Their ‘ER’ Adventure
“Adventures in Love and Birding,” based on the best-selling novel “Birding With Benefits,” is not as intense or heated as the first time Boston and Walker worked together on “ER,” but they both said the storyline was just as rich, with compelling characters and powerful examples of resilience and second chances.
In the movie, Boston plays single mom Celeste, who reluctantly agrees to help a bird enthusiast named John, played by Walker, at the birding competition he participates in each year. But she “misunderstands the assignment and tells everyone she’s his new girlfriend instead of just his teammate,” per Hallmark. Neither one goes into the event looking for love, having both been stung by heartbreak, but they wind up falling for each other as he teaches her about his passion for birding.
“This character was just so different than anything I’d ever played,” Walker told EntertainmentNow. “He’s reluctant about being around people, his ex-girlfriend is competing in the same birding event, and his comfort zone is just being in nature. He loves being by himself, and I’ve never really played a character like that. And I’m usually a pretty outgoing guy, so to explore that was really fun.”
Boston, meanwhile, relished playing a woman who was not expecting or even open to a second chance at love initially, but found it by surprise while stepping outside her own comfort zone.
“I have just found such joy and excitement and hope for women in stories like this,” she beamed. “They remind us that whether or not your life turned out exactly like you wanted it, you can still dream and plan and feel like there’s hope ahead, as long as you just keep going. I think those messages are what we want to see as women — inspiring stories of resilience. I relate to that, I want more of that, and I think others do, too.”
“Adventures in Love and Birding” premieres on Hallmark Channel on September 27 at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and will be available to stream the next day on Hallmark+.
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