Summer is coming to an end, and so it’s only right that we turn our attention to Christmas, the time for hot cocoa and blankets and Hallmark Christmas movies. Hallmark is preparing for their Countdown to Christmas event, where they unveil the 2025 schedule, and for the first time, they have joined forces with Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry for an original movie with music by none other than Brad Paisley. Two Hallmark fan favourites – Nikki DeLoach and Kristoffer Polaha – will star in the Christmas special, with Brad writing and performing original music for the film.
Brad is also working on the network’s official Christmas on-air anthem, so we’ll be able to hear the Grammy award winner crooning in our ears when we turn the channel to Hallmark all winter.
Set in Nashville, A Grand Ole Opry Christmas stars Nikki as Gentry Woods, the daughter of late country music icon Jett Woods – half of the famed duo Winter and Woods – who abandoned her dream of a songwriting career and distanced herself from her father’s legacy following his tragic car accident 30 years prior.
So when the Grand Ole Opry invites her to represent Jett at their centennial celebration at Christmas, she’s hesitant to return to the place steeped in bittersweet memories, until her friends encourage her to consider the opportunity.
Ahead of the big day, Gentry visits the Opry and, “while seated in one of the vaunted venue’s oak church pews, is suddenly transported to 1995,” alongside her lifelong friend Mac (Polaha), country music talent manager.
“Thanks to some Christmas magic, Gentry gets precious time with her father, creative inspiration to finish the song she began decades earlier as a teen, and learns surprising answers to questions about her father that have followed her for the last three decades,” reads the synopsis.
The film went into production in the Tennessee capital this month, with the iconic Opry House being used as a location, and there are reports that some of the Opry’s most beloved members will also appear in the movie. Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, and Emmylou Harris are all Opry members, with newer members including Lainey Wilson and Luke Combs.
“The Hallmark Channel to me is a major part of finding the joy and the spirit of the holidays,” Brad said in a statement. “We turn it on and leave it on in our house like Christmas tree lights or decorations, it’s a major part of the atmosphere for us. I loved the challenge of creating that same magic with this music by letting it take you to the same place that these movies and this world Hallmark has built. Can’t wait for you to hear what all we’ve done. Also, knowing the Opry is the setting for one of these movies is very inspiring.”
© Getty ImagesBrad lives with his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, who will next be seen in ABC’s 9-1-1 spin-off, 9-1-1: Nashville.
Showrunner Rashad Raisani told TVLine recently that although the series will have all the wild unpredictability of the original, they are also looking to prestige shows such as Succession and Dynasty for inspiration.
© Getty Images for The Michael J.“We have an Airstream trailer that ends up on top of a bridge and a poor guy on a Segway tour of the city who ends up impaled on a water tower,” he said of the premiere episode, adding that the show will bring “a bunch of crazy emergencies where people end up in places where they shouldn’t be.”
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