Danica McKellar, Dolly Parton to star in Christmas at Dollywood for Hallmark

07/10/2019

Prepare to get festive with Danica and Dolly this holiday season.

Danica McKellar, no stranger to a Hallmark Christmas movie, will star in Christmas at Dollywood — and it features an appearance by Dolly Parton, the network announced on Wednesday. The film, which begins production in August, is slated to air in December.

Christmas at Dollywood centers on a Broadway producer/single mom (played by McKellar) who discovers that investors in her holiday extravaganza have driven the production into bankruptcy, which means that the show won’t go on before it even opens. Rachel receives a call from a friend in Tennessee who asks her to revisit her Appalachian Mountain roots by co-producing a show for the 20th anniversary of the Smoky Mountain Christmas festival at Dollywood. Her producing partner is Luke, entertainment director for Dollywood who is viewing the production as a stepping stone so he can become the park’s new general manager. One of the mother-daughter stories that Rachel tells her 9-year-old child might just serve as the inspiration for this new Dollywood production, but she must persuade Luke that this is their ticket to success; he, on the other hand, has a different idea. “As the pair meets in the middle to please the boss, little do Rachel and Luke realize love lurks in all the unexpected places because this isn’t the Great White Way. Or Hollywood. This is Dollywood!” reads the official logline.

McKellar previously appeared in such Christmas flicks as Christmas at Grand Valley, Coming Home for Christmas, and My Christmas Dream.

Christmas at Dollywood is one of the record 40 holiday movies that Hallmark is planning for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in 2019. The first two movies, Christmas Camp and A Merry Christmas Match, will air in July. Lacey Chabert, Candace Cameron Bure, and Kristen Chenoweth are among the actresses starring in the new batch of films.

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