When “The Groomsmen: Last Dance” gets its Hallmark Channel premiere on September 20, 2025, it will mark an important and emotional milestone for star Tyler Hynes.
Not only is it the final movie of a groundbreaking trilogy for Hallmark, uniquely focused on the friendship of three male friends as they navigate love and change, but it’s also the culmination of a project that was years in the making with a team that became best friends in the process.
Although the trilogy initially debuted on Hallmark+ in the fall of 2024, Hynes told EntertainmentNow that as each movie has premiered on Hallmark Channel a year later, they’re reaching a wider audience and generating a “whole new level” of buzz he didn’t expect.
Tyler Hynes Says He & His Creative Partners Bonded Over the Logistical Challenges of Making ‘The Groomsmen’
Since his Hallmark debut in 2018, Hynes has become one of Hallmark’s most beloved leading men, starring in more than 20 of the network’s signature rom-coms. But behind the scenes, he’s also been working diligently on deepening his experience and impact as a filmmaker, intent on producing and starring in films that matter to him and his passionate army of fans.
For “The Groomsmen” trilogy, Hynes worked closely with fellow Hallmark star Jonathan Bennett, who first suggested the concept, inspired by his own friendships and experiences as a real-life groomsman. They brought in creative partner Ryan M. Murphy, who has executive-produced many Hallmark movies, from “Cranberry Christmas” to “Round and Round.”
Together, the threesome developed and produced the groundbreaking trilogy — Hallmark’s first to tell love stories from the male perspective (though Hynes noted they’re also seen through the lens of the female narrator). The second film in the trilogy — “The Groomsmen: Second Chances” — also broke ground with Bennett by featuring the network’s first gay wedding, which earned the group a 2025 GLAAD Award for Best Movie — TV or Streaming.
“Navigating all that together was such a journey,” Hynes told EntertainmentNow, fondly recalling countless Zoom meetings and connecting with Bennett in New York in early 2024 while he was starring on Broadway in “Spamalot.” “We became best friends through the high highs and low lows of it all.”
Once B.J. Britt was cast as the third “Groomsmen” alongside Hynes and Bennett, he quickly became part of their tight-knit “brotherhood,” Hynes said, calling him “the brightest shining light.”
Bennett echoed that sentiment, telling EntertainmentNow, “You cannot meet B.J. Britt and not absolutely fall 100% love with him, because he is the funniest, charming human being I’ve ever been around in my life. As soon as casting said B.J.’s name, I was like, ‘That’s the guy. It has to be B.J.’ And it just clicked.”
Filmed entirely in Europe with prolific Hallmark director Ron Oliver, each movie in “The Groomsmen” trilogy focuses on a different character’s romance. However, all three stories were designed to unfold during the same timeframe with overlapping scenes.
“I’ve never seen a trilogy of movies shot as one that played out quite this way,” Hynes told EntertainmentNow. “It was a new kind of storytelling and a new kind of experience, and such a fun opportunity to do something different. It was truly joyous making a piece of entertainment that hasn’t quite been done this way before.”
Tyler Hynes Wanted ‘The Groomsmen’ to Reflect the People Watching & the Countless People Behind the Scenes
After so much time developing, filming, and promoting the movies, Hynes told EntertainmentNow the trilogy is something they’re all proud of and hope will continue to resonate as meaningful and joyful for viewers.
“I just want everybody to see themselves or their loved one in it,” Hynes said. “I want them to go, ‘That’s my husband, that’s my spouse, that’s that person in my life’ and feel part of the magic we tried to create.”
Hynes provided never-before-seen clips to EntertainmentNow in hopes of highlighting the many people behind the scenes who helped make “The Groomsmen” a success and even influenced the development of his character, Jackson.
“The atmosphere created by our crew members and our collaborators, that nobody ever sees or meets, is so much a part of the fabric of the experience,” Hynes said. “They affect how I find lines or character traits or rhythms. It’s all usually born out of a combination of my own thoughts, what I’m watching or
consuming at the time, the audience and how they’ve impacted me at that moment, and all these people behind the scenes.”
He added, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve, like, gone to set and seen something or someone, and it made me think of something else that then finds its way into a scene. It feels refreshing, and it makes it challenging every time, because you’re searching for inspiration everywhere. I just love it.”
“The Groomsmen: Last Dance” premieres on Hallmark Channel on September 20 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The full trilogy is also available to stream on Hallmark+.
