After starring in 10 Hallmark movies since 2019, Heather Hemmens is heading to Lifetime. The cable network announced in early March 2026 that Hemmens will star in and executive-produce a new Taye Diggs movie called “Terry McMillan Presents: Paradise with You.”
The move doesn’t necessarily mean that Hemmens is leaving Hallmark, though. She’s become a treasured member of the network’s core pool of talent and told EntertainmentNow late last year how much she values being part of the “Hallmark family.”
Heather Hemmens Has Already Filmed Her Lifetime Movie in Nevis
Diggs, who got his start on Broadway and has been part of hit series including “Private Practice,” “Empire,” and “All American,” has found success at Lifetime as an executive producer and star of three other “Terry McMillan Presents” movies. In fact, he was called the “king of Lifetime romance films” in a press release about the “sultry” new movie featuring Hemmens.
“Terry McMillan Presents: Paradise with You” was filmed in early 2026 on the West Indies island of Nevis, according to the film commission there. The cast also includes “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Cynthia Bailey, Troy Brookins, and Q Stenline (also known as SwagBoyQ).
Hemmens, who launched her own Galifornia Undies product line in late 2025, will serve as an executive producer and star opposite Diggs, who plays “an NFL superstar on the brink of retirement” who “retreats to the Caribbean island of Nevis to reset and recharge.”
The logline continues, “There, he meets Simone (Hemmens), an interior decorator rebuilding her life after betrayal. What begins as a passionate island romance becomes complicated when they discover they’re competing for the same coveted estate, forcing them to choose between passion, pride, and the future if they’re brave enough to claim it.”
Heather Hemmens Says Being Part of the ‘Hallmark Family’ is One of the ‘Highlights of My Career’
HallmarkHemmen’s Lifetime movie is expected to premiere in the fall of 2026, but it’s highly likely she’ll also be working on and promoting new Hallmark projects by then.
The “Roswell, New Mexico” alum has starred with many of Hallmark’s most popular leading men over the years, including “The Groomsmen” cast of B.J. Britt, Jonathan Bennett, and Tyler Hynes, as well as with Marco Grazzini in 2024’s “Christmas Under the Lights,” Niall Matter in 2023’s “Come Fly With Me,” and Luke Macfarlane in 2021’s “Christmas in My Heart.” In December 2025, Hemmens told EntertainmentNow there are plenty more Hallmark actors she’d love to co-star with.
“I’d love to work with all of them,” she said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with them all at the Hallmark Christmas Experience, the Hallmark Christmas Cruise, and we did Comic Con this year. So I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with all of them.”
Hemmens is also a huge fan — and friend — of her fellow Hallmark leading ladies, including Erin Cahill, whom she’s been close with for more than a dozen years.
“I’ve become good friends with all of the girls,” the actress and entrepreneur said. “They are the most incredible, hard-working, fiery, beautiful, down-to-earth women, and we all support each other. I have never met a group of people like the Hallmark ladies and, Hallmark in general, so yes — I’m officially part of the family, and it’s just been one of the highlights of my career.”
Other actors have starred in Lifetime projects while remaining part of Hallmark’s roster, including Sarah Drew, who wrote and produced 2024’s “A Carpenter Christmas Romance,” Ashley Williams in 2024’s “Sister Wife Murder,” and Jodie Sweetin in 2025’s “Dateless to Dangerous: My Son’s Secret Life.”
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