Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2026: The 17th Season

The wait is over. Hallmark has published the full Countdown to Christmas 2026 schedule, and it is the biggest one the network has ever run.

Thirty-four original movies. That is ten more than last year, and in Hallmark’s own words it is “the most ever to premiere during Hallmark Channel’s yearly event.” The season opens Friday, October 16 at 8/7c with ‘Tis the Season for Setups, and from there you get a new original every Friday, Saturday and Sunday straight through December 20.

Below is every title, every date and every time, plus the two scheduling changes that tell you what Hallmark is actually doing this year.

When does Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2026 start?

Friday, October 16, 2026. The channel flips to Christmas that morning, with holiday movies running from 6:00 am, and the first new original premieres that night at 8/7c.

This is the 17th annual Countdown to Christmas, and it runs for more than two months. The last new premiere lands Sunday, December 20, and Christmas programming continues past that right through the holiday.

The full Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2026 schedule

All times Eastern/Central. Every date below comes straight from Hallmark.

Date	Time	Movie	Starring
Fri, Oct 16	8/7c	‘Tis the Season for Setups	Amanda Schull, Victor Webster, Barbara Niven
Sat, Oct 17	8/7c	Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story	Lyndsy Fonseca, Robert Buckley, Marsha Mason
Sun, Oct 18	8/7c	Mr. & Mrs. Christmas	Brendan Penny, Pascale Hutton
Fri, Oct 23	8/7c	Winter Wonderlanes	Ashley Newbrough, Franco Lo Presti
Sat, Oct 24	8/7c	Forgotten Holiday	Janel Parrish, Daniel Lissing
Sun, Oct 25	8/7c	What If Christmas	Lori Loughlin, Tom Cavanagh
Fri, Oct 30	8/7c	Who’s Coming for Christmas?	Rhiannon Fish, Jake Foy, Mila Morgan
Sat, Oct 31	8/7c	Adopting St. Nick	Amy Groening, Michael Rady
Sun, Nov 1	8/7c	A Danish Christmas	Emilie Ullerup, Corey Sevier
Thu, Nov 5	8/7c	Mistletoe Murders season 3 premiere	Sarah Drew, Peter Mooney
Fri, Nov 6	8/7c	Merry Memories	Lindura, Brendan Morgan
Sat, Nov 7	8/7c	Holiday Unplugged	Nikki DeLoach, Juan Pablo Di Pace
Sun, Nov 8	8/7c	A Season of Promises	Brooke D’Orsay, Ali Liebert, James Denton
Fri, Nov 13	8/7c	My Christmas Cowboy	Amy Acker, Luke Macfarlane, Sara Canning
Sat, Nov 14	8/7c	The Nights Before Christmas	Tyler Hynes, Laci J Mailey
Sun, Nov 15	8/7c	Mistletoe and Mimosas	Tamera Mowry-Housley, Kristoffer Polaha
Fri, Nov 20	8/7c	Our Holiday Playbook	Taylor Cole, Charles Michael Davis
Sat, Nov 21	8/7c	Christmas in Blue Dog Valley	Erin Cahill, Andrew Walker
Sun, Nov 22	8/7c	Double Booked for the Holidays	Rachael Leigh Cook, Owain Yeoman, Stephen Hagan
Thu, Nov 26	8/7c	Christmas Delivered	Autumn Reeser, Wes Brown
Fri, Nov 27	6/5c	The Christmas Eve Feast	Daniella Monet, Kevin McGarry
Fri, Nov 27	8/7c	Return to Santa	Paul Campbell, Rachel Boston
Sat, Nov 28	6/5c	The Most Wonderful Secret	Tammin Sursok, Peter Porte
Sat, Nov 28	8/7c	Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True	Lacey Chabert, Travis Van Winkle
Sun, Nov 29	6/5c	Eight Nights for Love	Hunter King, Dan Jeannotte
Sun, Nov 29	8/7c	Miles to Christmas	Ashley Williams, Steve Lund, Alison Sweeney
Fri, Dec 4	8/7c	The Snowflake Effect	Heather Hemmens, Mark Ghanimé
Sat, Dec 5	8/7c	A Grand Biltmore Christmas	Holland Roden, Niall Matter, Andie MacDowell, Jonathan Frakes
Sat, Dec 5	10/9c	The Hallmark Christmas Experience: A Hometown Holiday	Jonathan Bennett, Melissa Peterman
Sun, Dec 6	8/7c	An Angel in My Stocking	Fiona Gubelmann, Marco Grazzini, Nancy Robertson
Fri, Dec 11	8/7c	Christmas in Canterbury	Jessy Schram, Will Kemp
Sat, Dec 12	8/7c	Snow Globe Town	Kimberley Sustad, Scott Michael Foster
Sun, Dec 13	8/7c	Noelle Nomads	Benjamin Ayres, Torrey DeVitto
Fri, Dec 18	8/7c	Hearts All Aglow	Mishael Morgan, B.J. Britt, Holly Robinson Peete
Sat, Dec 19	8/7c	Barking All the Way	Ian Harding, Tori Anderson
Sun, Dec 20	8/7c	Save the Date for Christmas	Jonathan Bennett, Italia Ricci

As in past seasons, new premieres arrive on Hallmark+ the day after they air on the channel.

Hallmark added a second premiere hour, and almost nobody noticed

Look closely at Thanksgiving weekend in that table. Friday November 27, Saturday November 28 and Sunday November 29 each have two new movies, one at 6/5c and one at 8/7c.

That is six premieres in three days. Countdown to Christmas has run on a one-new-movie-a-night rhythm at eight o’clock for years, so seeing Hallmark stack a second original earlier in the same evening is a real change, and it is how the network got from twenty-four movies to thirty-four without adding a single extra weekend.

So if you normally sit down at eight on Thanksgiving weekend, you will be missing half of it. Set a reminder for six.

There are also two Thursday premieres this year, which is not the usual pattern either. Mistletoe Murders returns for season three on Thursday November 5, and Christmas Delivered premieres on Thanksgiving Day itself, Thursday November 26.

The three big ones

Hallmark says three tentpole movies anchor the season. It has not spelled out which three, but the lineup makes the shape fairly obvious.

Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True premieres Saturday, November 28 at 8/7c, and it is the first movie Hallmark Channel and Walt Disney World have ever made together. Lacey Chabert and Travis Van Winkle lead it, with Richard Kind, Christy Carlson Romano, Bryce Durfee and Taegen Burns rounding out the cast. Two comfort traditions in one place.

A Grand Biltmore Christmas follows on Saturday, December 5 at 8/7c. This is the sequel to 2023’s A Biltmore Christmas, and Jonathan Frakes is back as Winston from the original. Holland Roden and Niall Matter carry the romance, and Andie MacDowell joins as Aunt Maysilee, which pulls one of the leads of The Way Home into a Christmas movie. Hallmark shot it in parts of the estate the first film never used, including the rooftop, the pergola, the swimming pool, the bowling alley and Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bedroom. Rachel Boston and Wes Brown are in this one too, and each of them headlines their own premiere elsewhere on the schedule.

Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story opens the second night of the season, Saturday, October 17 at 8/7c. It is the third film in the NFL collaboration, this time with the Chicago Bears, shot entirely in and around Chicago. Lyndsy Fonseca plays a reporter profiling a superfan heading to her 500th game, with Robert Buckley as the firefighter grandson who has to teach her about football. The cameo list is genuinely long: Bears head coach Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams, Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Mike Singletary, Charles “Peanut” Tillman, Dan Hampton, Connie Payton, and Staley Da Bear, plus Tamera Mowry-Housley and Marilu Henner.

Casting worth circling

Lori Loughlin and Tom Cavanagh headline What If Christmas on October 25, an alternate-reality story where a heart-shaped ornament drops Erin into the fashion-designer life she gave up.

Rachael Leigh Cook plays identical twins in Double Booked for the Holidays, filmed in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, on November 22.

Snow Globe Town on December 12 is built on Brad Paisley’s song of the same name. Paisley has been Hallmark’s Christmas music partner for several seasons and this is the first time that has produced an actual movie premise. Kimberley Sustad and Scott Michael Foster star.

The Christmas Eve Feast is executive produced by Giada DeLaurentiis and centers on a Feast of the Seven Fishes in Boston’s North End. Daniella Monet and Kevin McGarry lead it, in the 6/5c slot on Thanksgiving Friday.

Mistletoe Murders season three brings in Catherine Bell and Holly Robinson Peete as guest stars. Sarah Drew and Peter Mooney return, picking up after season two’s cliffhanger.

‘Tis the Season for Setups opens the entire season on a parent-trap premise where the romance being engineered belongs to Barbara Niven and John B. Lowe. Opening your biggest season ever on a story about two people in their sixties falling in love is a choice, and a nice one.

Hallmark is not first this year

Worth knowing if you are planning your season: Great American Family gets there first. GAF announced its own slate on September 22, with 18 original movies, streaming on Great American Pure Flix from October 8 and premiering on Great American Family from October 10. That is six days ahead of Hallmark’s October 16 opener.

It also means that from October 17 onward, every single Saturday has two new Christmas movies airing at eight o’clock on two different channels. November 28 is the one to circle, with Holiday Ever After against GAF’s A Christmas Rescue, and December 5 puts A Grand Biltmore Christmas opposite GAF’s The Christmas Ornament Library. Our Great American Christmas 2026 lineup has that side of the season in full.

For both networks in one place, use the 2026 Christmas movie preview, and the Christmas movie schedule tracks what is on tonight.

Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2026 FAQ

What date does Countdown to Christmas 2026 start?
Friday, October 16, 2026. Christmas movies run all day, and the first new original premieres at 8/7c.

How many new Hallmark Christmas movies are there in 2026?
Thirty-four original movies, the most Hallmark has ever premiered in a single Countdown to Christmas. There is also a new season of Mistletoe Murders and a Hallmark Christmas Experience special.

What night do new Hallmark Christmas movies premiere?
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 8/7c, with a few exceptions. Thanksgiving weekend adds a second premiere each night at 6/5c, and there are Thursday premieres on November 5 and November 26.

When is the last new Hallmark Christmas movie of 2026?
Save the Date for Christmas on Sunday, December 20 at 8/7c.

Where can I stream Hallmark Christmas movies?
On Hallmark+, where each new premiere arrives the day after it airs on the channel.

What is the first Hallmark Christmas movie of 2026?
‘Tis the Season for Setups with Amanda Schull, Victor Webster and Barbara Niven, Friday October 16 at 8/7c.

Seventeen seasons in, thirty-four movies, a Disney castle, the Biltmore, the Chicago Bears, and a second premiere hour nobody saw coming. Mark October 16 and start clearing the DVR.

We update this page every time Hallmark confirms a change.

Source: Hallmark Channel.