Hallmark

‘An Unexpected Christmas’ on Hallmark Channel Starring Bethany Joy Lenz & Tyler Hynes – Plot, Cast, Premiere & Photos

Hallmark Channel is airing An Unexpected Christmas in November as part of their special ‘A Very Merry Thanksgiving’ event. This film follows premieres of others like A Kiss Before Christmas, and is one of the many new films in the network’s annual ‘Countdown to Christmas’ extravaganza. Get details on the plot and cast, plus see a few photos and a preview below.

An Unexpected Christmas on Hallmark: What is the Movie About?

Jamie (Tyler Hynes) goes home for Christmas, but hasn’t told his family about his breakup with Emily (Bethany Joy Lenz). When Emily comes to town, Jamie makes her a deal. He’ll get the governor to deliver the Christmas Day speech for her campaign if she goes home to see his family for Christmas. The catch? They have to pretend they’re still together!

They try to keep their secret, but an awkward week ensues as Jamie and Emily’s plan starts to unravel. Just when it seems like the holidays have been ruined, Jamie makes a very unexpected Christmas happen.

Who is in the An Unexpected Christmas Cast?

Bethany Joy Lenz as Emily

Bethany Joy Lenz is best known for her role on the hit TV show One Tree Hill, where she played Haley James Scott from 2003-2012. In addition to starring, she directed a few episodes of the series in its later seasons. Since then, she was cast in a couple pilots, had recurring roles on Dexter and Colony, as well as starred in the USA Network series Pearson as Keri Allen.

Bethany (also known as Joy) is a familiar face to Hallmark and Lifetime fans – she’s been in seven other films, including Five Star Christmas. Currently, she hosts a podcast with her former OTH co-stars Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton called Drama Queens. The titular track from her holiday EP Snow will be heard in An Unexpected Christmas, she shared on Twitter.

Tyler Hynes as Jamie

Tyler Hynes is a Canadian actor who’s also familiar to Hallmark Channel fans thanks to his roles in On the 12th Date of Christmas, It Was Always You,

and Roadhouse Romance. Fun fact: he made a quick cameo in Hallmark’s newest holiday film My Christmas Family Tree – he played a waiter for Andrew Walker and Aimee Teegarden’s characters. Other roles you might know him from are NBC’s The Firm, as well as Canadian shows Saving Hope and most recently, Letterkenny.

He’s very active on social media. You can follow him @tyler_hynes on Twitter and Instagram. Tyler posted a trailer (second slide) for the movie, which you can see below. He wrote: “Some lovely folks made a Christmas movie for you the other day. I appreciate all your excitement for it.”

Up next for Tyler is attending the RomaDrama Convention. He will be alongside other romantic movie leads from Hallmark like Trevor Donovan, Andrew Walker, and Ryan Paevey.