With just over two months to go until Hallmark Channel launches its 17th annual Countdown to Christmas, many of the network’s new, original holiday movies have already been filmed or are about to start production. At least 30 new movies are expected this holiday season (more than in 2025), according to The Wrap.
So, which stars have been paired up for this year’s feel-good, heart-melting holiday rom-coms? As of August 7, 2026, here are a dozen dynamic duos we know will grace our screens this holiday season…
Robert Buckley & Lyndsy Fonseca in “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story”
HallmarkHallmark Channel announced on August 5 that its third consecutive “Holiday Touchdown” movie, made in partnership with the NFL, will kick off its Countdown to Christmas programming lineup when it premieres on October 17.
Hilarious Hallmark hunk Rob Buckley and longtime leading lady Lyndsy Fonseca have teamed up “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story,” which wrapped filming in Chicago in late July. The cast also includes four-time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason, “One Tree Hill” alum Barbara Alyn Woods, and “The Walking Dead” alum Khary Payton, with cameos from Hallmark fan-favorites Tamera Mowry-Housley and Marilu Henner as well as multiple past and present Chicago Bears players and current head coach Ben Johnson.
Lacey Chabert & Travis Van Winkle in ‘Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True’
GettyHallmark Channel queen Lacey Chabert has said she nearly fell over when the network asked her to star in a Christmas movie set at one of her favorite places on the planet, Disney World. She began filming “Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True” in December 2025 with hunky actor Travis Van Winkle, who’s no stranger to Hallmark. His past movies on the network include “Project Christmas Wish” and “‘Tis the Season to be Merry.”
When “Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True” premieres on November 28, Chabert and Van Winkle will be joined by an all-star cast that includes Richard Kind, Christy Carlson Romano, Taegen Burns, and Asher Alexander.
Niall Matter & Holland Roden in ‘A Grand Biltmore Christmas’
GettyOne dynamite duo we’ve known about since early 2026 is Niall Matter and Holland Roden, who will star in “A Grand Biltmore Christmas,” the follow-up to the 2023 hit Hallmark movie “A Biltmore Christmas,” which starred Kristoffer Polaha and Bethany Joy Lenz. Matter and Roden filmed the movie in January at the historic Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
Speaking of dynamite duos, Wes Brown and Rachel Boston will return after making a surprise cameo in the first movie. The all-star cast also includes Andie MacDowell and Jonathan Frakes. Mark your calendars for December 5, when “A Grand Biltmore Christmas” is set to premiere!
Erin Cahill & Andrew Walker in ‘Christmas in Blue Dog Valley’
HallmarkLongtime Hallmark fan-favorites Erin Cahill and Andrew Walker are finally co-starring in a Hallmark movie together! “Christmas in Blue Dog Valley” is based on a 2022 novel of the same name, written by late author Annie England Noblin, about a veterinarian who moves to a small town. Cahill and Walker, who’ve been friends for more than 15 years, filmed the movie in Vancouver in May and early June.
Though they co-starred in another project years ago, Cahill said at Hallmark’s 25th birthday event on August 4, “This is our first Hallmark, you guys. We have been so excited. We’re family. I’ve known him since before he got married, and before he had his boys … I was relieved because on set someone was like, ‘Yeah, you guys have great chemistry, and I was like, ‘Phew, because he’s like a brother!'”
Tyler Hynes & Laci J. Malley in ‘The Christmas Loop’
HallmarkWe can’t wait to lose track of time with Hallmark stars Tyler Hynes and Laci J. Mailey in “The Nights Before Christmas,” filmed in Vancouver from late March to mid-April. Hynes posted multiple sneak peeks while filming the movie, in which his character is stuck in a time loop. You can watch a sneak peek here.
“I’m a big fan of Andy McDowell, and she made a movie called ‘Groundhog Day,’ Hynes said during Hallmark’s 25th birthday panel discussion on August 4. “Also a big fan of Michael J. Fox, ‘Back to the Future,’ and I thought I hadn’t seen a movie quite like that (recently), and I thought it was a lovely opportunity.”
He continued, “So much of these movies are made through the efforts of a lot of people, the crews who shoot them, the people in post-production who help edit them, all these artists and artisans who partake, and I wanted to try to create some sort of an opportunity for them to hopefully stretch themselves a little bit and do something a little beyond.”
“We were able to do that,” Hynes smiled, “and everybody on that production was very, very happy with their whole experience and felt very proud of what they’ve done, and so for me it was an opportunity to do that, and hopefully it turns into something lovely for you all.”
Autumn Reeser & Wes Brown in ‘Christmas Delivered’
GettyHallmark fan-favorites Autumn Reeser and Wes Brown filmed their new movie, “Christmas Delivered,” in actual snow, Reeser gleefully told the audience at Hallmark’s August 4 birthday panel. She also brought her two sons to set and said that her oldest — whom Brown nicknamed Little Chef, “is really into cooking, and so is Wes, so it was really cute. They were, like, bonding over recipes.”
According to Hallmark’s synopsis, Reeser plays Kimberly Carr, a woman who’s “determined to unwind from the stresses and loneliness of her everyday life” as she visits her grandma in Canada at her cozy farmhouse for Christmas. But “Kimberly’s plans for a restorative holiday are unexpectedly turned upside down when she crosses paths with Ben Chambers (Brown), owner of a local tree farm and new Christmas tree delivery app called TreeBen.” You can check out a brief preview here!
Tamera Mowry-Housley & Kristoffer Polaha in ‘Mistletoe and Mimosas’
HallmarkLongtime Hallmark Channel stars Tamera Mowry-Housley and Kristoffer Polaha will team up for the first time in “Mistletoe and Mimosas,” with Mowry-Housley also serving as executive producer. We’re guessing this one will bring some definite laughs, given that it’s written by Russell Hainline, known for other Hallmark hits including 2025’s “Three Wisest Men” and “Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!”
Polaha will head from filming his two new “Buried in Barstow” movies with Angie Harmon to filming this new Christmas movie, in which Mowry-Housley plays Claire Bennett, “a successful business consultant in Manhattan who unexpectedly inherits her beloved Uncle Lou’s Christmas-themed bar, The Tipsy Reindeer, in upstate New York,” per Hallmark’s synopsis. Polaha’s character Zach enters the picture because his company wants to buy the business, but they agree to ‘face off in face off in a 12 Days of Christmas-inspired series of festive events to see who can bring in the most business” to decide the bar’s fate.
Jonathan Bennett & Italia Ricci in ‘Single at the Wedding’
GettyIn July, Hallmark Channel’s Jonathan Bennett and Italia Ricci filmed their new buddy rom-com, with a working title of “Single at the Wedding.” They play close pals who are both perpetually single; Ricci’s character Susie has “checked out on dating” but Bennett’s character Alec is a “hopeless romantic.”
“After being each other’s plus one to what feels like the twentieth wedding this year,” Hallmark’s synopsis says, “they vow to take a break from attending weddings and looking for their respective prince charming.” But when Susie’s sister announces her last-minute Christmas wedding, they pair up again to attend, determined to have a good time without trying to find the loves of their lives at the family affair — but as any Hallmark fan knows, romance shows up anyway. There’s no official word yet on who will play Bennett and Ricci’s love interests.
Daniella Monet & Kevin McGarry in ‘The Christmas Eve Feast’
Hallmark/GettyFormer Disney Channel star Daniella Monet has entered the Hallmark Universe with supporting roles in two Hallmark movies — 2024’s “Holiday Crashers” and 2025’s “Sisterhood, Inc.” — but she recently wrapped her first role as a leading lady on the network.
Though Hallmark has not confirmed the pairing, Monet and “When Calls The Heart” star Kevin McGarry were spotted filming in Ontario on July 6 by former Hamilton Observer reporter Dan Dundas, who said their movie is titled “The Christmas Eve Feast.” Before heading to film, she said on the “Good Guys Podcast” in June that if she could “do 10% of what Lacey Chabert’s doing right now, I’d be the luckiest girl in the world.”
Alison Sweeney & Ashley Williams Re-Team in New ‘Multi-State Adventure’
GettyOne of our favorite Hallmark friendship duos, Alison Sweeney and Ashley Williams, were over the moon to announce on August 4 that they’re about to start filming a new Christmas movie to premiere later this year. The real-life friends executive produced and starred in June 2025’s “To Barcelona, With Love” and “To Barcelona, Forever.”
The new movie is not a continuation of the “Barcelona” storylines, though. Hallmark’s synopsis says Williams will play Cassidy, “a no-nonsense Chicago lawyer who finds herself scrambling to get home to her father in Nashville on Christmas Eve after her flight gets canceled due to weather.” Sweeney plays Jo, “a fellow traveler bound for Nashville whose bright, sunny, easy-breezy attitude is the opposite of Cassidy’s sensible approach to life.”
“Desperate to get home to her father,” the synopsis continues, “Cassidy reluctantly teams up with Jo, who enlists the help of her truck driver brother Chase (Steve Lund) to get them to another airport to catch new flights. On the long drive, Cassidy and Chase get to know each other while Jo takes a cat nap, and it’s clear there may be a romantic spark between them by the time they arrive at their next destination. But when Cassidy and Jo’s journey hits snag after snag, Chase comes to their rescue more than once. As they continue on make it home for Christmas, Jo and Cassidy slowly form a true friendship and help each other in unexpected ways.”
According to a release from Hallmark, “Garage Sale Mysteries” alum Steve Lund is also part of the cast, and longtime Hallmark star Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe is directing the “multi-state holiday adventure,” which Sweeney and Williams will also produce. The current working title is “Home For the Holidays,” according to Creative BC, and filming is expected to start in Vancouver on August 17.
Amy Acker & Luke Macfarlane in ‘My Christmas Cowboy’
Giddy up! Hallmark veterans Amy Acker and Luke Macfarlane will co-star in “My Christmas Cowboy,” a movie that was initially called “A Cowboy for Christmas” when it was filmed in Kelowna, British Columbia, in May, per Casting Workbook. Hallmark briefly featured the duo and the movie’s new title in a promo for Countdown to Christmas.
We don’t have details yet on the plot. But fans spotted the cast and crew in downtown Kelowna, filming at local spots like the Pulp Fiction Coffee House, which was closed all day on May 25 for the shoot. Hallmark Channel is sure to announce many more duos in future weeks, before Countdown to Christmas begins on October 17.
