We’ve already seen the 2025 TV schedule and 2025 movies bring viewers a number of feel-good romances, and fans of upcoming Hallmark movies know that the biggest time of the year for such stories is yet to come. The network’s annual Countdown to Christmas usually features dozens of new stories set around the holiday season, and while many festive films are on the horizon, it turns out that Hallmark is trying something new this year, and it will involve stars from Battlestar Galactica and Parenthood.
What’s Hallmark Trying For Countdown To Christmas In 2025?
For well over a decade viewers who adore romantic happy endings have called the Hallmark channel one of their homes. The past several years have seen the network try new things like introducing LGBTQ+ leading movies and starting to get away from some of the predictability of its stories. Well, Deadline has now reported that Hallmark is really shaking things up this year, as the powers that be there are in the process of bringing fans a Christmas-themed limited series for this holiday season!
The show, which is set to air six episodes that will stream the next day on Hallmark+, is currently titled The Twelve Dates of Christmas, and it’s based on the 2020 book of the same name by author Jenny Bayliss. The story follows Blexford, England-based pattern designer Kate (Parenthood and Good Girls star Mae Whitman), who’s been taking care of her dad, Mac, who also happens to live next door to her in their adorable little village.
To get Kate out of her worker/caretaker rut, her best buddy signs her up for a holiday-specific dating service that promises to get singles paired up for Christmas, and as Kate gets into the swing of it by meeting a man “who reinvigorates her zest for life,” her globe-trotting mom, Delilah (Battlestar Galactica’s Mary McDonnell), shows up.
This puts a crimp in not only Kate’s newly recharged life, but Mac’s, as he’s begun leaving his recliner behind to hang out with local hot-widow, Evelyn (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman star Jane Seymour). However, Kate’s experience will lead to a “circuitous route to romance” that will see the hard-working young woman begin to make “some important discoveries about herself.”
I don’t know about you, but I already love this idea. Not only do we have some top-tier talent in Whitman, McDonnell and Seymour to help bring this story to life, but the premise is perfect for long-form storytelling so that all of these relationships can get the build and pay off that they deserve.
While I didn’t tune in for as many Countdown to Christmas movies in 2024 as I typically do, I do think that the ones I did see didn’t quite fulfill my expectations to hit the heights of gems like A Biltmore Christmas, A Holiday in Harlem, Catch Me If You Claus, Christmas in My Heart, and the delightfully rewatchable Christmas Waltz or some of the network’s other showstoppers. But, The Twelve Dates of Christmas is currently filming in and around Dublin, Ireland, and I cannot wait to dive into the series when it debuts later this year!
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