Andrew Walker in MERRY & BRIGHT (Photo: Crown Media)

One—or many—could say that Andrew Walker is the ‘Prince of Hallmark,’ and that might be why he has not one, but two new Christmas movies spanning both of Hallmark’s top networks this holiday season!  I chatted with Andrew about Merry & Bright, in which he co-stars with Jodie Sweetin and Sharon Lawrence, as well as his surprising second festive film alongside Ashley Greene; his outlook on acting, holiday traditions, and lots more!

Your new movie, “Merry and Bright”, premieres this weekend on Hallmark for the 10^th Anniversary of Countdown to Christmas. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Sure! It’s about a girl (Jodie Sweetin) who inherits a candy cane company from her grandfather, and the business has not been doing too well; she’s been struggling to keep it afloat and to grow it.  I represent an investment group that comes in to turn the business around.  I’ve been assigned by the investors to go in to, basically, just dismantle things and help her grow the business, and obviously she’s a very proud woman and she’s a very proud business owner, and she doesn’t feel like she needs my help so, she’s kind of giving me some pushback on that. Ultimately, we end up finding a common ground and, along the way, we end up falling for each other.

Photo/Screencaps: Crown Media

Lacey Chabert brought the spirit of Christmas into the summer season by celebrating Christmas in July and hosting Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas: A First Look” Preview Special. The annual sneak peek show gave us a look at some of the original movies coming to the network during the 10th Anniversary of Countdown to Christmas, which officially kicks off on Friday, October 25th!

During the special, Chabert was joined by network pet ambassador, Happy the Dog, and “Home & Family” pet rescue expert Larissa Wohl — who brought along some kittens and puppies as she explained Hallmark Channel’s pet rescue initiative, “Adoption Ever After”. Learn more here!

Read on to check out the movies that were spotlighted during the special!

Photo: Crown Media

Today’s movie news is sure to be major for all my fellow Andrew Walker & Jodie Sweetin fans!

We didn’t get a new *Hallmark* Christmas movie from Walker last year but — not only did he return this spring for “Bottled with Love”, he’ll also appear alongside Sweetin (“Finding Santa”, “Entertaining Christmas”) for the ‘most wonderful time of the year’!

Walker and Sweetin will lead “Merry and Bright”, the story of Cate (Sweetin), CEO of the Merry & Bright Candy Cane Company, who meets Gabe (Walker) during the busy Christmas season. She assumes Gabe is the suitor her well-meaning mother is trying to set her up with when in reality, he works for Empire Corporate Recovery, which has been hired to take a closer look at Merry & Bright’s operation and find ways to make the company more profitable. As Cate and Gabe begin to work together, they find ways to elevate the business and find that they have more in common than savvy business sense.

Although the network will air a new movie during it’s Christmas in July programming, I think it’s likely that we’ll see “Merry and Bright” premiere during the Countdown to Christmas lineup later this year.

This marks the ninth new Christmas movie announcement from Crown Media this year — following “The Christmas Song“, “Holiday for Heroes,” “The Christmas Company,” “Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses,” “Five Cards for Christmas,” “A Family Under The Christmas Tree,” a third installment to the ‘Graceland’ series and an untitled Blake Shelton-produced project.

Stay merry!