Hallmark Channel’s 2026 Christmas Movie Schedule: Full Premieres and Casts

Hallmark Channel is turning the calendar upside down in 2026 with an enormous Countdown to Christmas event packed with romance, reunions, magical mishaps, football fandom, Disney World sparkle, time travel and enough festive small towns to make viewers consider relocating by Thanksgiving. Beginning Friday, October 16 and running through December 20, the network will debut 34 original holiday movies, with new premieres nearly every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

And yes, some of Hallmark’s most beloved faces are returning for what could be its most star-studded Christmas season yet.

Hallmark Is Going Bigger Than Ever for Countdown to Christmas 2026

The 17th annual Countdown to Christmas lineup is built for viewers who start decorating before Halloween and have strong opinions about fictional Christmas markets. Every new movie will be available to stream on Hallmark+ the day after its Channel premiere, making it easier than ever to keep up with the avalanche of mistletoe-fueled stories.

This year’s slate has a little of everything: enemies-to-lovers romances, second chances, fake relationships, memory loss, alternate realities, guardian angels, magical snowflakes and even a Hanukkah time-traveling menorah. There are also three major tentpole titles that will likely dominate seasonal conversation.

The Three Movies Everyone Will Be Talking About

First up is Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story, arriving October 17 as the newest entry in Hallmark’s NFL partnership. Lyndsy Fonseca stars as a reporter assigned to profile an intensely devoted Chicago Bears fan, played by Marsha Mason.

Her assignment puts her in the orbit of the fan’s firefighter grandson, played by Robert Buckley. Naturally, the football obsession may lead to something much more romantic.

Then there is Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True, the November 28 event movie starring Hallmark favorite Lacey Chabert. She heads to Walt Disney World with her family for Christmas, only to learn that a disastrous recent date, played by Travis Van Winkle, is staying right next door.

With Richard Kind, Christy Carlson Romano, Bryce Durfee and Taegen Burns also appearing, this one has the potential to be a full-on holiday spectacle.

The third major title, A Grand Biltmore Christmas, premieres December 5 and continues the world introduced in 2023’s beloved time-travel romance A Biltmore Christmas. Holland Roden plays a woman from 1915 who reunites with a mysterious childhood friend portrayed by Niall Matter, only to discover he is a time traveler.

Andie MacDowell, Jonathan Frakes, Rachel Boston and Wes Brown are among the familiar faces joining the adventure.

October Starts the Season With Romance, Football and Missing Memories

The first weekend begins October 16 with Tis the Season for Setups, starring Amanda Schull as a party planner working at a ski resort. Victor Webster plays a ski instructor who is also the lodge owner’s son, giving this festive event the ideal recipe for snow-covered chemistry.

October continues with Brendan Penny and Pascale Hutton in Mr. and Mrs. Christmas, a story about a holiday-display expert trying to revive a town Christmas market alongside a practical accountant. Ashley Newbrough and Franco Lo Presti headline Winter Wonderlanes, which takes viewers to a threatened bowling alley and reunites former high school sweethearts.

Janel Parrish and Lori Loughlin Take on Major Holiday Twists

On October 24, Forgotten Holiday gives Janel Parrish a challenging mission: helping her boyfriend reclaim his lost memories after an accident erases the previous year of his life, including his connection to Christmas. Daniel Lissing co-stars in what sounds like one of the season’s more emotional romances.

The next night, What If Christmas puts Lori Loughlin into an alternate universe where she never gave up her fashion ambitions. Tom Cavanagh plays her heart-surgeon husband in the life she left behind, making this a holiday fantasy built around one irresistible question: what happens when the dream life does not include the person you love?

Rhiannon Fish, Jake Foy and young actor Mila Morgan bring warmth to Whos Coming for Christmas?, while Halloween night offers Adopting St. Nick with Amy Groening and Michael Rady. The latter follows a hardware-store owner who becomes involved in a Christmas Companions program at a retirement community.

November Delivers Hallmark Favorites, Mystery and Thanksgiving Weekend Mayhem

November opens with A Danish Christmas, starring Emilie Ullerup and Corey Sevier, set at a Copenhagen inn where mistaken identity puts a hotel executive in a complicated holiday situation. The following week also brings the return of a fan-favorite mystery franchise.

Mistletoe Murders returns for Season 3 on November 5, with Sarah Drew back as Emily Lane and Peter Mooney returning as Detective Sam Wilner. The new season promises three additional Christmas mysteries, plus complicated developments as Emily’s past catches up with her present.

Catherine Bell and Holly Robinson Peete will guest-star.

Time Loops, Cowboy Crushes and Competitive Christmas Cocktails

Hallmark has stacked the middle of November with reliably irresistible concepts. Nikki DeLoach and Juan Pablo Di Pace star in Holiday Unplugged, about a widow searching for missing videos of her late husband after attempting a screen-free Christmas.

Brooke D’Orsay and Ali Liebert play estranged sisters in A Season of Promises, while James Denton appears as their widowed father.

Amy Acker and Luke Macfarlane reunite in Texas for My Christmas Cowboy, followed by Tyler Hynes and Laci J Mailey in The Nights Before Christmas. Hynes plays a man trapped reliving Christmas Eve who falls for a journalist who forgets him each time the day resets.

If that premise does not have viewers setting a reminder, nothing will.

Tamera Mowry-Housley and Kristoffer Polaha compete as rival holiday nightlife professionals in Mistletoe and Mimosas, while Taylor Cole and Charles Michael Davis tackle fake dating and family flag football in Our Holiday Playbook. Erin Cahill and Andrew Walker bring animals and small-town drama to Christmas in Blue Dog Valley.

Thanksgiving weekend is especially overloaded. Rachael Leigh Cook plays identical twins in Double Booked for the Holidays, a Welsh bookshop romance involving a barista, a lord and inevitable identity confusion.

Autumn Reeser and Wes Brown headline Christmas Delivered, while Daniella Monet and Kevin McGarry bring food, family and the Feast of the Seven Fishes to The Christmas Eve Feast.

Lacey Chabert Leads a Massive Thanksgiving Weekend Lineup

Paul Campbell and Rachel Boston team up for Return to Santa, in which a skeptic discovers that his childhood wishes are suddenly coming true. Tammin Sursok and Peter Porte star in The Most Wonderful Secret, centered on a holiday scavenger hunt and a revived block party.

Chabert’s Disney World movie airs Saturday night, but the festive rush does not slow down afterward. Hunter King and Dan Jeannotte star in Eight Nights for Love, a Hanukkah romance involving a magical antique menorah.

Ashley Williams, Alison Sweeney and Steve Lund close out the weekend in Miles to Christmas, a road-trip romance born from canceled flights and unexpected travel companions.

December Brings Angels, Choir Battles, Dogs and One Last Wedding

The final stretch launches with The Snowflake Effect, starring Heather Hemmens and Mark Ghanimé. A corporate attorney becomes cursed with everybody else’s terrible luck after placing a magical snowflake in a gift exchange, which sounds like precisely the kind of enchanting chaos Hallmark viewers embrace.

Following A Grand Biltmore Christmas, Jonathan Bennett and Melissa Peterman will host The Hallmark Christmas Experience: A Hometown Holiday. The special promises appearances from more Hallmark stars and an early look at what the network is planning for 2027.

The Final Holiday Countdown Has Something for Every Viewer

Fiona Gubelmann and Marco Grazzini reunite as exes stranded together in An Angel in My Stocking, with Nancy Robertson playing a mysterious guardian angel. In Christmas in Canterbury, Jessy Schram and Will Kemp face off as rival choir leaders competing for a prestigious Christmas Eve performance.

Kimberley Sustad and Scott Michael Foster headline Snow Globe Town, set in a place known as the Christmas Proposal Capital of America.

Benjamin Ayres and Torrey DeVitto star in Noelle Nomads, a campground-set story about a doctor, his daughter and an unexpected community of free spirits.

• December 18: Hearts All Aglow with Mishael Morgan and B.J. Britt
• December 19: Barking All the Way with Tori Anderson and Ian Harding
• December 20: Save the Date for Christmas with Italia Ricci and Jonathan Bennett

Whether viewers are showing up for Lacey Chabert at Disney World, Tyler Hynes caught in a Christmas time loop, Rachael Leigh Cook playing twins or a dog determined to repair an old romance, Hallmark’s 2026 lineup is clearly designed to keep the holiday spirit alive for a full 10 weeks.

Consider the cocoa supply officially at risk.