Fans of Hallmark Hall of Fame’s beloved film “The Christmas Train” are in for a nostalgic treat!
From heartwarming romance to picturesque train rides through snow-covered landscapes, this 2017 film perfectly captured the magic of the holiday season. Now, years later, we take a look at how the star-studded cast has changed and where they are today.
Dermot Mulroney Then & Now
Mulroney played the lead, Tom Langdon, a journalist who is assigned to cover what he considers to be a puff piece: writing about a holiday-themed Christmas train. While on the train, his life quickly gets a lot more interesting when he runs into his former flame on board.
“I stepped on the set, and I was like, ‘Holy cow! This is the most Christmas-y train I’ve ever seen,’” Mulroney said in an interview with TV Insider back in 2017. “It really exemplifies Hallmark and their heartwarming holiday entertainment. And it’s a beautiful movie. We shot it on real trains, every aspect of it, and then they just cut it together and added snow.”
GettyFollowing his role in “The Christmas Train” in 2017, Mulroney has been in a variety of successful film and television projects, such as “Chicago Fire,” in 2024, “The Hunting Wives,” in 2025, “Secret Invasion,” in 2023, and “The Righteous Gemstones,” in 2019, and films like “Anyone but You,” in 2023 as the character Leo and “Scream VI” in 2023 as Detective Bailey.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley Then & Now
Williams-Paisley played Eleanor Carter, who is Tom Langdon’s former flame.
GettyWilliams-Paisley is an actress, New York Times Best Selling author, Alzheimer’s advocate and co-founder of The Store, a non-profit organization in Nashville which aims to address food insecurity, according to her cast bio on the official Hallmark site.
After role in “The Christmas Train,” she took on many notable roles in both film and television, including Netflix‘s “The Christmas Chronicles” in 2018 and two years later “The Christmas Chronicles 2,” starring in the “Darrow & Darrow” television movie series from 2017 to 2019, appearing as Charlene in the hit film “Jesus Revolution” in 2023, “Dog Gone” in 2023, and co-starring in the “Sister Swap” Hallmark movies in 2021. She also reprised her “Father of the Bride” role as Annie Banks in the 2020 short film “Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish).”
Danny Golver Then & Now
Glover played Max Powers, a Hollywood producer and writer.
GettyActor, producer, and humanitarian, Glover has been a presence on screen and on the stage for over 45 years. Since 2017, Glover has been in a multitude of film and television projects, such as “Jumanji: The Next Level” in 2019 as Milo Walker, “Sorry to Bother You” in 2018, where he was a prominent supporting role as the character Langston, “The Old Man & the Gun” in 2018, where he appeared alongside Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” in 2019 as Grandpa Allen, and “The Dead Don’t Die” in 2019, where he was part of the ensemble cast as Hank Thompson. In 2020, Glover appeared in an episode of “Black-ish” as Uncle Norman.
Joan Cusack Then & Now
Cusack played Agnes, another character that Tom encounters while on the Christmas train. She is “a somewhat mysterious character,” according to Mulroney, who also provides some lighthearted comedic support. “Turns out, she’s always on the train and she seems like she’s just a super nosey neighbor. Her little sleeper cabin is right next to Tom’s, so they keep bumping into each other.”
Cusack tends to keep her personal life out of the spotlight, participating in very few public appearances since her role in “The Christmas Train.” The actress now focuses mainly on voice acting work with projects, such as “Toy Story 4” where she voiced the character of Jessie and “Klaus” where she voiced “Mrs. Tammy Krum.”
Check out a couple of interviews Cusack did in 2017:
Inside ‘The Christmas Train’
From Hallmark Hall of Fame, director Ron Oliver brought David Baldacci’s novel to life in “The Christmas Train.” In a press release from 2017, the film is described to be about, “disillusioned, globetrotting journalist Tom Langdon” who “must get from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles in time for Christmas. Forced to take the transcontinental trip by train and determined to chronicle his adventure, Tom finds himself westbound with a variety of characters who open his eyes to wondrous possibilities, and the opportunity for love he thought had been forever lost.”
While sitting down for an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2017, Mulroney discussed how his first appearance in Hallmark’s 2015 film, “Northpole: Open for Christmas,” was “such a rewarding experience” that when “they called” him again to do “The Christmas Train,” he said, “it would’ve been self-destructive behavior” if he hadn’t taken the job.
“It’s overlooked and even ridiculed or takes on a different class of entertainment, but until you do one, you don’t realize how big it is,” Mulroney said of Hallmark films.
He went on to gush about the film’s unexpected ending. “I hate to ruin the ending for you, but everyone gets home in time for Christmas. That being said, there is an ending written into The Christmas Train that is completely unexpected — you can look for that and I will not spoil that part. Everyone is fooled. So that’s the mystery within the mystery. Like a lot of Hallmark’s fare, it’s just a little more than you give it credit for,” he said.
