Over 1,800 fans packed a hotel ballroom at San Diego Comic Con to hear from some of Hallmark Channel’s biggest stars on July 24, 2025.
The first-ever Hallmark HallStars panel featured B.J. Britt, Erin Cahill, Heather Hemmens, Holland Roden, Luke Macfarlane, Tyler Hynes, and Will Kemp — plus a FaceTime appearance from Jonathan Bennett — all talking about some of the iconic Hallmark projects they’ve starred in or will be part of soon.
But behind the scenes, the group also had fun doing photo shoots and joint interviews, including one with TV Insider’s Damian Holbrook, who moderated their panel. When he asked them if there were any Hallmark movies they wished they’d been in, the stars had some fascinating answers about the roles they would have loved to play.
Every Star Chose a Hallmark Channel Movie From the Last 3 Years
After congratulating the eight featured Hallmark stars on their successful Comic Con panel, Holbrook asked them, “Is there a Hallmark movie that you wish you had been in?”
He looked first for an answer from Hemmens, who said, “Oh, goodness! Umm, the one that Lacey Chabert did in Iceland with Kris Polaha. I was like, ‘That must’ve been a cool experience!”
Chabert and Polaha filmed “The Christmas Quest” in early 2024 for the holiday season, but they weren’t the only Hallmark stars in Iceland for the shoot.
After Hemmens shared her answer, Cahill interjected, “I got to play her mom in that and I got to go shoot in Iceland! Pinch me! I played her mom in a flashback.”
Next up, Roden chose Benjamin Ayres and Kimberley Sustad’s 2024 comedy “The Santa Class,” explaining, “That was a really fun one. I love, like, an improv. Lucie Guest directed it, and I loved the, like, puppet Santa, (there was) a female Santa. There was a lot of fun ones in that one!”
Hynes noted that “The Santa Class” was from screenwriter Russell Hainline, who’s also worked with Sustad and Paul Campbell (who hilariously appears in “The Santa Class” as himself) on the scripts for “Three Wiser Men and a Baby” and the upcoming “Three Wisest Men.”
Erin Cahill & Luke Macfarlane Chose the Same Hallmark Channel Movie They Wish They’d Been Part Of
GettyHynes, whose new movie with Erin Krakow was announced as part of the group’s Comic Con appearance, was then in the hot seat to reveal which Hallmark movie he wished he’d been in.
He turned to his “The Groomsmen” buddy Britt, who also starred in 2022’s “The Holiday Stocking” with Tamala Jones and Nadine Ellis, and said, “What’s the Christmas movie you did? That one.”
Britt started to say, “I want to do my own thing,” but when Hynes feigned disappointment, Britt grabbed him and said, “‘Holiday Touchdown!’ ‘Holiday Touchdown!’ Of course I wanted to be in that. The Chiefs! How ’bout those Chiefs!”
Next up, it was Cahill’s turn and she chose 2023’s “A Biltmore Christmas” starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha. Roden gasped and said, “Oh yes! That one’s up there, too, for me.”
Kemp, who hails from the U.K., then joked that he had pitched a movie called “Three Men and a Brit” but that it hadn’t happened yet. Leigh then added that she could play his wife in a “marriage on the rocks” storyline, and Kemp jokingly asked if they could jump into a pond, like she does in “The Way Home.”
Last up was Macfarlane, who also said he would have loved to be in “A Biltmore Christmas,” but noted it was “for different reasons” than others, “because Jonathan Frakes directed that movie and I’m a big ‘Star Trek’ fan.” John Putch was actually the director, but Frakes did co-star in the time-travel hit.
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Hallmark Stars Reveal Which Hallmark Channel Movies They Wish They’d Been Cast In