It’s that time of year again, and no, I’m not talking about the spooky season. I’m referring to Merry Hallmark-mas, which counts down to everyone’s favorite holiday with an assortment of cheery romances. Though, you know what’s even better than hanging lights? It’s having a familiar face back helping count down to Christmas: Lori Loughlin just starred in her first Hallmark movie in eight years.
In fact, her new Christmas movie almost became a ‘what if.’ Her new movie, What If Christmas, can be watched online with a Hallmark+ subscription. In it, Loughlin plays a supportive wife who is in the midst of feeling lost and regretting giving up her dreams. So naturally, a heart-shaped ornament allows her to live out her dreams in an alternate reality. Though this sounds like a perfect Hallmark premise, it took years to land on the network. The actor gives the details to TV Insider about the long road it took to make What If into a reality:
I read the initial draft of this script probably 3-4 years ago, and I was trying to get it made somewhere else before I went back to Hallmark, and it just didn’t come to fruition.
It’s been nice seeing her back on the upcoming Hallmark movies list. Her last holiday-themed movie was Homegrown Christmas (2018), and after her exit from Hallmark, I thought that’d be the last time we’d get to see her on the network. That is, until What If Christmas became the perfect holiday movie to get her back into the countdown tradition, and what’s not to love? Obviously, the network thought so too, according to Loughlin:
And then when I went back to Hallmark, they wanted to do a Christmas movie, and I remembered the script. So I had Brad Krevoy, a friend of mine and producer that I work with all the time. He had purchased the script when I initially read it and found it, and he still had the rights to it. So I called him up and I said, ‘Hey, let’s send that script to Hallmark and see what they think.’
Everything about it is classic Hallmark. Loughlin plays Erin, who has traded a potential life as a fashion designer to help her heart surgeon husband (played by Tom Cavanagh) organize hospital galas. When he switches to a new hospital, he suddenly doesn’t need her help anymore, so enter a magical ornament that lets her live out her dreams. The premise is definitely up Hallmark’s alley. Loughlin reveals that it didn't take long for the network to get on board:
So they did, and Hallmark liked it. And then they brought in another writer to do another pass, Julie, and she did a great job. They liked the concept and the idea, and so did I. And that’s how it all came about.
The network made the right choice. Not only did we get the charming movie added to our holiday watchlist, but it paired Loughlin with Cavanagh, which is a perfect match made for Christmas. I loved hearing the actress gushing about working with him, and that “We got along right out of the gate.” We know that Hallmark loves a good pairing, almost as much as they love showing off their Christmas movies, so maybe we’ll get to see them do another movie together.
However, while I love seeing Loughlin be merry, I was even more excited to see her back solving murders. Her Garage Sales Mysteries has been dormant since her departure but finally came back with a 17th installment, Murder Takes the Stage. The actor also surprised everyone by showing up in the When Calls the Heart Season 13 finale, reprising her role as Abigail Stanton, and is expected to have a major part in Season 14.
Her first Hallmark movie back is certainly not the last, and I’m excited to see her back catching killers, decking the halls, and even falling in love.
