Heavy Hallmark Mystery will debut a new holiday TV series in 2024
For the last 15 years, Hallmark has become the top TV destination for holiday programming, per Forbes, premiering dozens of new Christmas movies from October through December. But in 2024, according to Deadline, the holiday programming juggernaut will add a mystery TV series to the mix for the first time.
On May 16, 2024, Hallmark Media announced that “Grey’s Anatomy” alum Sarah Drew will star in “Mistletoe Murders,” a holiday-themed mystery series on the Hallmark Mystery channel, which was rebranded in March to elevate Hallmark’s commitment to its family-friendly mystery franchises.
Sarah Drew Will Start Filming New Mystery Series in June 2024
GettySarah Drew at the 2023 Variety Power Of Women on November 16, 2023
“Mistletoe Murders” is based on an Audible podcast of the same name that’s been a “global hit,” according to Deadline. Drew will play lead character Emily Lane and also serve as an executive producer on the show, which will film in Toronto beginning in June.
“How I Met Your Mother” actress Cobie Smulders has voiced the role of Emily Lane for two seasons on the podcast, according to Yahoo, with a third season in the works. Deadline said the character is “smart, tough, and observant, but also kind, empathetic, and charming with a great — albeit dry — sense of humor.”
According to a synopsis of the TV series, “When Emily isn’t busy running her charming small-town Christmas-themed store, ‘Under the Mistletoe,’ she finds herself compelled to investigate local murders with the help of handsome local police detective and his teen daughter. On the surface, Emily is a perfectly lovely, good-natured mystery lover – but she is hiding a secret past that, if exposed, threatens to destroy the new life she has built in Fletcher’s Grove.”
Drew, 43, spent nine seasons playing Dr. April Kepner on “Grey’s Anatomy,” per Us Weekly. She has become a rom-com fan-favorite in recent years, including starring in Lifetime’s “A Cowboy Christmas Romance,” which made headlines in 2023 for featuring that network’s first “sex scene” in a holiday movie.
At Hallmark, Drew’s recent projects have included “Branching Out,” which premiered in late April, and 2023’s “Guiding Emily.”
‘Mistletoe Murders’ is Second New Series Hallmark Announced This Week
Hallmark“The Way Home” Season 2
Hallmark hasn’t announced a premiere date or supporting cast yet for “Mistletoe Murders.” But the new mystery series will likely help fill the programming void creating by the network’s recent rebranding of its Hallmark Mystery channel.
Formerly called Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, the network has run its own set of holiday-themed movies during the Christmas season since 2013, according to the Countdown Until Christmas blog. Most of those Christmas films were dramas, not mysteries, such as 2023’s top-rated “Miracle in Bethlehem, P.A.,” which are now a better fit for the main Hallmark Channel and another rebranded channel, Hallmark Family.
“Mistletoe Murders” will be the first mystery series Hallmark has produced, but the company is no stranger to producing hit shows. Hallmark Channel has had success with multiple dramatic series over the years, including “When Calls The Heart,” which was just renewed for a 12th season, and Andie MacDowell’s “The Way Home,” which will return for a third season in 2025.
In fact, according to Deadline, award-winning “The Way Home” director Grant Harvey will also work on “Mistletoe Murders.”
News of Drew’s new show came just days after Hallmark Media announced the launch of another new series, “The Chicken Sisters,” which is also set to debut on Hallmark Channel in 2025. The eight-episode series is based on the bestselling novel “The Chicken Sisters” by KJ Dell’Antonia, according to Variety, and will star Genevieve Angelson, Wendie Malick, Lea Thompson and Schuyler Fisk.