Hang on to your PSL, kids. Hallmark Channel just announced its Countdown to Christmas 2025 lineup, which will unspool nearly 80 hours of scripted movies and unscripted and scripted series across Hallmark Channel and Hallmark+ beginning Friday, October 17. On top of that, you can join the festivities in person when the annual programming event — now in its 16th year — formally launches in Nashville.
This year includes the conclusion of the Three Wise Men trilogy and a new installment of Christmas Touchdown celebrating the Buffalo Bills. And all of the TWM boys, plus Kimberley Sustad, are double-booked with secondary titles.
Miracles of Christmas has been unofficially retired this year, so there are fewer films, but more hours with series in the mix. While Hallmark Movies and Mysteries (and then Hallmark Mystery) was the home for seasonal premieres of the more dramatic and faith-based holiday fare, this year, it will instead be the destination for themed movie “merry thons” from the existing library, running Sundays beginning October 19, and every Tuesday beginning October 21, it will run back-to-back films with favorite Hallmarkies.
One programming note for our regular and longtime readers — as of press time, Alison Sweeney, Luke Macfarlane, Lucas Bryant, and Victor Webster are taking a pass this holiday season. While Macfarlane is currently filming a Christmas movie with Brittany Bristow, it’s not on the Hallmark schedule at this time.
Here’s a look at some of our faves who are returning. The full lineup is here. Each program premieres at 8 pm/7c.
A Royal Montana Christmas—Saturday, October 18
Our fave Warren Christie kicks things off in a crown-meets-country romcom. Overwhelmed by her royal duties during the Christmas season, Princess Victoria of Zelarnia (Fiona Gubelmann) is ready for a change of pace. Looking to decompress before Christmas, she takes a vacation to Peaceful Pines Ranch in Montana where she celebrated Christmas as a child with her late father. Upon arrival, she meets her dashing guide Huntley Blaylock (Christie), who offers rustic experience that is far from the royal treatment.
A Christmas Angel Match—Sunday, October 19
Meghan Ory and Benjamin Ayres play Monica and Michael, a pair of Christmas angels who work for the Christmas Connection Department and are tasked with bringing destined soulmates together during the most magical season of all. This is one of two titles this year where Hallmark straight-up trolls us with cute animals. As Ory and Ayres shared recently on IG, they’re not above shilling puppies.
Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!—Saturday, October 25
Weatherman Ted Cooper (Robert Buckley) loves Christmas, but the past three have been terrible. This year, Ted has made up his mind that things will be different, but his relentless optimism is about to be put to the test as he is faced with a litany of injuries and obstacles when he travels back to his hometown of Lackawanna, NY for the holidays. He reconnects with the charming Hope Miller (Kimberley Sustad), except now she’s Dr. Hope Miller, with whom he went to high school and quietly crushed on from afar.
Christmas Above the Clouds—Saturday, November 8
Fans of It Was Always You who have been clamoring for a reunion of Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes get their wish answered this holiday season. When workaholic CEO Ella Neezer [get it?] (Krakow) tries to skip Christmas by flying to Australia, she’s in for the flight of her life. Haunted by her past, present and future, she’s forced to confront the choices that led to her success yet left her flying solo. With the help of three quirky spirits and a surprise reunion with her ex (Hynes), she might just rediscover the magic of Christmas – and the love she thought she’d lost.
A Keller Christmas Vacation Sunday, November 9
Jonathan Bennett, Brandon Routh, and Eden Sher (y’all I’m ridiculously excited to see this The Middle standout do a Hallmark movie) play siblings Dylan, Cal, and Emory, who are “gifted” with a holiday river cruise down the Danube River, touring European Christmas Markets and towns along the way, while they sort out their collective and individual baggage, never expecting it to turn out to be a glorious once-in-a-lifetime experience in time for Christmas. Bennett shared pics from filming just after the holidays last year.
Three Wisest Men—Saturday, November 15
Paul Campbell, Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker, and Margaret Colin return for one last Christmas adventure that finds Luke (Walker) expecting twins, Taylor (Hynes) debating a monumental job opportunity out-of-state, and Stephan (Campbell) planning for his wedding. That’s already a lot when their mom, Barbara (Colin), decides to sell their childhood home, marking their final Christmas in the Brenner house.
Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story—Saturday, November 22
Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario step in for a new installment of last year’s juggernaut. The Quinns and DeLucas have lived next door to each other for decades in the shadow of Highmark Stadium – the home of their beloved Buffalo Bills. Pediatric doctor Morgan Quinn (Roden) and the Bills’ VP of Stadium Development Gabe DeLuca (Daddario) have been lifelong friends, but Gabe has always held a torch for her – a fact obvious to their families…and everyone else who crosses their path. When Morgan learns from her Uncle Tommy (Joe Pantoliano) that someone anonymously helped her family get by after he was drafted more than 60 years ago – and that he continues to receive a Christmas gift each year to this day – she decides to find his benefactor and give her uncle a Christmas he’ll always remember
We Met in December Thursday, November 27
Niall Matter and Autumn Reeser get the Thanksgiving slot in a stranded traveler/Serendipity tale. On an unexpected layover in mid-December, Annie (Reeser) and Dave (Matter) meet as strangers in a beautiful hotel all decorated for the holidays. After a magical night, they part company and fail to exchange numbers. Back home in Chicago with no easy way to track each other down, they embark on separate quests to find one another.
A Grand Ole Opry Christmas Saturday, November 29
Coinciding with the centennial of the Grand Ole Opry, Nikki DeLoach and Kristofer Polaha star in this time-travel drama. Gentry Wade (DeLoach), daughter of late country music icon Jett Wade – half of the famed duo Winters & Wade – abandoned her dream of a songwriting career and distanced herself from her father’s legacy following his tragic accident 30 years prior. When the Grand Ole Opry invites her to represent Jett at their centennial celebration at Christmas, she’s hesitant to return to the place steeped in bittersweet memories. Encouraged by her good friends, Gentry visits the Opry and, while seated in one of the vaunted venue’s oak church pews, is suddenly transported to 1995. Gentry’s lifelong friend Mac (Polaha) a country music talent manager, finds himself in 1995 as well.
Christmas at the Catnip Café—Sunday, November 30
Closing out Thanksgiving weekend, Erin Cahill and Paul Campbell bring you kitties galore. Olivia (Cahill) is a marketing executive from Oakland who is close to realizing her dream of purchasing a condo, but she’s a bit short on the down payment. When she learns that her late great aunt left her half of a cat café in upstate New York, she thinks it’s the Christmas miracle and cash flow she needed. That is until she meets Dr. Ben Kane (Campbell), the veterinarian and co-owner, who uses the café to help homeless cats find forever homes, and he has no intention of closing up shop.
She’s Making A List—December 6
Andrew Walker and Lacey Chabert are together again, in their first Christmas title. Isabel (Chabert) is a top consultant for Santa’s outsourced Naughty or Nice Group, which uses an algorithm to help them make the tough calls. When she is tasked with evaluating mischievous 11-year-old Charlie, she expects a routine case. But things get complicated when Isabel unexpectedly falls for Charlie’s widowed father, Jason (Walker), and begins to question the rigid rules of her job.
The Christmas Baby—Sunday, December 21
Ali Liebert, Katherine Barrell, and Barbara Niven close out the season with a new take on the baby in the manger. When a baby boy shows up on their doorstep days before Christmas with a note written specially for them, Erin (Liebert) and Kelly (Barrell) must learn how to navigate their new relationship and career dynamics while unexpectedly caring for a newborn. As they spend more time with the baby until he can be placed permanently or they can find his mother, they begin to realize that they want to adopt him themselves and navigate the complicated world of fostering to adopt all while their business is booming at the busiest time of the year, Christmas.
Nestled in among the new movies are new seasons of Mistletoe Mysteries (which begins with Season 1 on October 17 and runs straight through to Season 2’s premiere on November 7) and Finding Mr. Christmas (Monday, October 27) as both move from Hallmark+ to Hallmark Channel, and Baked with Love: Holiday, a competitive baking show hosted by Tamera Tamera Mowry-Housley, which is paired with Finding Mr. Christmas. Mowry-Housley also co-stars with BJ Britt in Tidings for the Season on Sunday, November 16.
Starting Friday, December 5, look for a new tentpole series starring Mae Whitman, Mary McDonnell, and Jane Seymour. 12 Dates of Christmas follows talented Saville Row textile pattern designer Kate (Whitman), who lives in the quaint village of Blexford, England, next door to her father Mac (Nathaniel Parker), who is long-divorced from Kate’s mother Delilah (McDonnell), a globe-trotting American always on an adventure. When not at work, Kate looks after Mac, who’s recovering from a motorbike accident and is inclined to spend his days sitting in his recliner. Unbeknownst to Kate, her best friend Laura (Lucy Eaton) signs her up for “The 12 Dates of Christmas” – a holiday-themed matchmaking program in the days leading up to the holiday featuring carefully curated, yuletide dating experiences.
If you’re game to start your holiday early and in person, Hallmark is taking its show on the road again, bringing its Hallmark Jingle Stop Tour to Nashville for a Hallmark Holiday Takeover on Opry Plaza from 2:00 – 7:00 p.m on Wednesday, October 15. The public is invited to celebrate the magic of the season, experience festive photo opportunities, and see their favorite Hallmark talent in person.
On Thursday, October 16, Hallmark will host its Countdown to Christmas launch event at Category 10 in Downtown Nashville, from 7:30 – 10:00 pm. Fans can attend the special evening featuring an unprecedented sneak peek of this year’s holiday programming, Country Christmas line dancing and special musical guests.
And there’s also the previously announced four-week Hallmark Christmas Experience this November and December, which returns for a second year to the mothership city of Kansas City, MO, for four weekend of an immersive fan experience with tiered free and paid activities that include games and competitions, panel discussions, creative workshops, movie screenings, photo opps, and much more. Learn more at experiencehallmarkchristmas.com.
You can find the whole line up of holiday titles here. And here’s a sneak peek of Brad Paisley’s new song written specifically for Countdown to Christmas.
Photos and video courtesy of Hallmark Media.
