Chad Michael Murray Sets His 2023 Christmas Movie: 'This Genre Hits Home for Me' (Exclusive)

It's beginning to look a lot like ... there will be plenty of Christmas movies — and Christmas movie star favorites — to go around this year.

Chad Michael Murray, for one, is set to star alongside Wynonna Earp actress Christa Taylor Brown in the latest for Great American Family, Christmas on Windmill Way, PEOPLE can reveal exclusively. The movie will premiere as part of the network's Great American Christmas event, which launches in October, and will see at least 21 new holiday movie debuts throughout the season.

"Telling stories and entertaining people is what I love to do," the One Tree Hill alum, 41, tells PEOPLE. "This genre hits home for so many people during a weighted time of the year. Bringing light and love with the story we’re telling feels like icing on the cake. Or, let’s get corny here: it’s like adding snow on Christmas."

The movie follows Mia Meijer (Brown) as she gets ready for the Christmas Market Dutch Bake-Off and suspects that her grandmother, Ann, will walk away with the cherished Golden Rolling Pin thanks to her Kerststol, a traditional Dutch fruited Christmas bread. But Mia's world is rocked when she learns that Ann was having financial troubles and had to sell the land deed to the Windmill Way property in her family for generations.

Making matters worse, the buyer is Mia's former boyfriend, property developer Brady Schaltz (Murray), who must let Mia and Ann know the Meijer family-owned heritage Dutch sawmill, renowned for the past 90 years for its fine millwork and beautiful wooden furniture, will be torn down to put up a luxurious resort.

"Making Christmas movies is like making magic. I am so thankful to have been a part of this one," Brown tells PEOPLE. "Chad was a true gem to work with and we’re so excited to share our Christmas on Windmill Way magic with you all!”

"We all love the holiday season. We all love these films," Murray said in a panel at Christmas Con New Jersey last December, moderated by PEOPLE. "I’m going to do them for as long as I can."

Christmas on Windmill Way is executive produced by Brad Krevoy, Amy Krell, Cara J. Russell, Susie Belzberg Krevoy, Don McBrearty, and Kelly Martin. W. Michael Beard and James Mou are supervising producers. Don McBrearty directs from an original screenplay Christmas on Windmill Way by Billy Schofield.

Other Great American Family 2023 Christmas movies already announced include Bringing Christmas Home, starring Jill Wagner and Paul Greene; A Royal Christmas Romance, starring Danica McKellar and Damon Runyan; Blessings of Christmas, starring Lori Loughlin, James Tupper and Jesse Hutch; Christmas by Chance, starring Trevor Donovan and Merritt Patterson; My Christmas Hero, starring Candace Cameron Bure; and Paris Christmas Waltz, starring Jen Lilley and Matthew Morrison.

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Great American Christmas kicks off on October 20 on Great American Family.