14 Highlights from Just Jared’s Panel with Hallmark Channel Stars on the 2026 Christmas Cruise! (Exclusive)
JustJared.com was on board the 2026 Hallmark Christmas Cruise, where we had the opportunity to host an exclusive “Behind-the-Scenes Panel” featuring six of the network’s stars. During the conversation, we got an inside look at the making of their movies, heard hilarious stories from set, and learned more about the real-life friendships they’ve formed along the way.
Erin Cahill, Daniel Lissing, Heather Hemmens, Benjamin Ayres, Taylor Cole, and Ashley Williams joined the panel, moderated by Just Jared Managing Editor David Niederhoffer, on the final day of the cruise.
We’re counting down 14 of the biggest highlights from the panel, including questions submitted by Daniel‘s Christmas movie co-star Janel Parrish, his thoughts on a possible return to When Calls the Heart, how Ashley and her frequent co-star Alison Sweeney make the perfect on-screen team, and why we’re dreaming up a “mermaid and merman” movie for Erin and actor Tyler Hynes!
1. Daniel Lissing’s first Hallmark Christmas Cruise exceeded his expectations
Of the 18 actors onboard the Norwegian Joy, only two of them were first-timers for the Hallmark Christmas Cruise. Daniel was one and the other was Emilie Ullerup.
We asked Daniel if the cruise met his expectations.
“No, it has far surpassed them,” he responded. “I’ll be honest, I was really nervous. I ended up calling a couple of the guys and was like, ‘Alright, tell me what am I in for here? What is this all about?’ And they were like, ‘Nothing can prepare you for a Hallmark Christmas Cruise. It is all the best things.’ And it’s so true. I’m having the best time hanging out with all of you and really getting to meet and spend time with my fellow actors has been really nice. We see each other on social media, but I don’t work with any of the guys really,” implying how the male actors mainly work with the female actors.
2. The actors want their bloopers to be turned into a special or series!
Taylor brought up the idea of making a special or a series out of their bloopers.
“I have a question, I want to know, in the audience, who would like to see bloopers? I feel like we could do an entire series, a show, about bloopers. We have so many funny stories!” She then suggested that Benjamin Ayres do a full episode of his new podcast The Mr. Nice Guys about bloopers.
Heather chimed in, “The problem with the bloopers is that whenever I’m on set and I mess up a take, I go, ‘beep beep beep.’ They’d have to beep out the whole thing!”
3. Daniel Lissing watched one of his movies with an audience for the first time during the cruise!
The Hallmark Christmas Cruise features the exclusive premiere of a new Christmas movie every year. This time around, fans got to watch Daniel‘s new movie Forgotten Holiday on the ship before it aired on TV later that night.
Daniel popped into one of the screenings on the cruise and was able to watch some of the movie alongside the fans, marking the first time he’s ever watched one of his movies in a theater with fans.
“It’s the first time I’ve experienced that actually, other than a short film, but it was amazing,” Daniel said. “I got to come out, have a little talk about it, and then I sat there for a little while. It’s always funny when you’re watching yourself, but it’s a warm room, what can you say. It was interesting for me as an actor to see the parts that an audience might respond to or laugh at, or have a moment with, and you could feel that energy. And I thought that was really cool. I didn’t stay for the whole movie unfortunately because I had to do something else, but it was really special and I’m grateful it happened. Thank you for watching it.”
4. Janel Parrish submitted questions for Daniel Lissing, her Forgotten Holiday co-star
Janel wasn’t on the cruise, but we decided to reach out to her and ask for some questions we could ask Daniel on her behalf. Things that only she would be able to ask of him. And she definitely delivered!
Her first question, “Tell the crowd about the fun tradition that the crew would do when you finished a scene.”
Daniel replied, “All of us here, we kind of connect with our crews, our camera departments, our makeup departments, all of them. With this particular crew, we were shooting in Vancouver and this camera team had a tradition that at the end of every single scene, we’d get down and do 20 pushups. By the end of the day, you’re doing eight scenes, you’re doing like 160 pushups. It started with like 3 [people] and by the end of the movie, everyone, like 30 people were getting down on the ground. Even if you couldn’t do them, you’d do as many as you can, just one was fine. That was our little, keep the blood flowing, tradition.”
For Janel‘s second question, she told us, “he will hate this.” And he was definitely caught off guard! She asked, “Can you sing the ‘yam fries’ song?” Turns out, it was an inside joke between them!
“No… I can’t. Only because,” Daniel said before breaking out into a high-pitched voice. “‘Yam fries.’ We were eating yam fries and we were like going around singing harmonies, ‘We love yam fries.’ That kind of stuff. There was another one we did. I saw this on Instagram or something like that. And just to sort of like, Janel and I, to spark up before a scene and get in touch with our bodies and spirits, we’d kind of tap ourselves on our head and we’d sing, ‘Every single cell inside my body, every single cell is happy and well.’”
Daniel ended up getting down on the ground and demonstrated his push-ups. Watch above!
5. Taylor Cole spoke her movie with Charles Michael Davis into existence on last year’s cruise
On last year’s Hallmark Christmas Cruise, we asked Taylor during a panel who she’d like to work with next and she said Charles Michael Davis, best known for his work on shows like The Originals and Younger. Taylor previously worked with him while playing Sofya Voronova in seasons three and four of The Originals. Well, the Hallmark casting team must have been listening, because they made that happen!
“This cruise, last year, you asked me, who would you like to work with? You made this happen! And all of you. The response I got when I said I did The Originals and I would love to work with Charles Michael Davis, the audience went crazy because he’s awesome, and we got a movie. It sparked a little brainchild!” she said.
Taylor also talked about working with first-time Hallmark actors.
She said, “I love working with first-timers! I just tell them all about [the fans] and the world we step into. The fandom of Hallmark is so pure, so beautiful, the gratitude is unbelievable. So getting to tell them, you have no idea how your life is going to change. How these humans connect, make you cry, share their stories. So watching their face just like, ‘What? What am I stepping into?’ This world is awesome. And then also I say, ‘Get ready because you’ll do more.’ I remember doing my second one, Summer Prince, I was like, ‘Wait, we get to do this forever?’ I didn’t know I had such a fun job. I’m gonna keep doing it over and over.”
6. Taylor Cole announced her new movie with Wes Brown
Taylor Cole and Wes Brown will be starring in an upcoming movie for Hallmark Channel and it’s a golf-themed film!
Taylor revealed that her new movie “is under wraps, because it hasn’t been announced yet.” So this is some very early scoop!
“Wes Brown and I are doing a golf movie!” Taylor said. “And also, for any of you who are like, ‘Golf movie?!’ This movie has so many different things. There’s two weddings… there’s pool, there’s two different stunts. They have it all. There’s even a dance number. My first time dancing!”
7. Erin Cahill’s request to work with Andrew Walker was finally granted
Erin‘s Christmas movie this year is Christmas in Blue Dog Valley and it’s her first Hallmark movie with Andrew Walker, someone she’s known for almost two decades.
For those who don’t know, Erin and Andrew previously starred in the 2008 indie action movie Fast Track: No Limits.
“I know you guys have heard this before, but [Andrew] is every bit as wonderful as you’d hope he is. I mean, better. He’s just incredible. He’s always prepared. He’s just the best. And fun fact: I have known Andrew for like 18 years. And is Tatiana here? She casts for Hallmark, but I would like to give a big shout-out to Tatiana. She was like, ‘Who would you like to work with?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve known Andrew forever, please Andrew Walker.’ And so it happened this year,” Erin said.
8. Erin Cahill dreams up a new movie with Tyler Hynes with our help
We pointed out a fun connection that Erin has to the beloved Hallmark franchise Three Wise Men.
“Last year, you did a ‘cat’ movie with Paul Campbell. This year, you did a ‘dog’ movie with Andrew Walker. We think, next year, you have to fulfill your ‘Three Wise Men and Animals’ trilogy and do an animal movie with Tyler Hynes. What animal would you choose?” we asked.
Erin replied, “That would be really fun! What if we did something nautical? If I’ve done cats and dogs, then fish…”
Ashley Williams cut her off and suggested, “Mermaid and merman?!”
Erin added, “Or something with a vet! Because Paul played that last year, I played that this year, something with a veterinarian!”
9. Why Ashley Williams and Alison Sweeney are the perfect team
Ashley is teaming up with frequent co-star Alison Sweeney for the new movie Miles to Christmas this year. The partnership was evident as they work so well together as a producing team.
Ashley told us, “Alison’s my girl! The first movie that Alison Sweeney and I did together, we [came up with] the idea in a bar, where all good ideas are born. This one was more like, we were on set in Spain, and we were like, ‘We’ve gotta figure out what else we can do.’ So we started brainstorming. I have to say, working with Alison Sweeney is so incredible. She has her hands as a producer in every single aspect of production and that’s also how I work, so the two of us together, we’re an amazing team. But also I’ll say, she does all the hard things. As soon as I see her jump in, I can step back and say, ‘Alison’s got it.’ Which is an amazing dynamic for me.”
10. Heather Hemmens wants to sing in a Hallmark movie!
Heather proved to fans on the cruise, and everyone watching the videos online, that she’s an incredible singer. Just hours after wowing everyone with her “I Will Survive” cover onboard the ship, she revealed that she wants to sing in a Hallmark movie in the future.
“One thing that I would like to do, that I haven’t done yet, is sing in a Hallmark movie. That would be really fun! Caroling, that’s a Hallmark trope, right? Caroling and Christmas songs,” she said during the panel.
Watch her “I Will Survive” performance above!
11. Benjamin Ayres’ new Hallmark movie happened after a DM from Holland Roden
Ben is starring in the new movie Noelle Nomads this year and it was inspired by Hallmark actress Holland Roden‘s true story of being a nomad in her van.
“We did a New York event two and a half years ago. It was the first time I had met Holland. And a month later she sent me a DM saying, ‘Can we talk about something?’” Ben said.
He continued, “I assumed she wanted to do a Romance University collab and then she’s like, ‘I have this really good idea for a movie. And I’d love for you to develop it with me and be the lead of it.’ I was like, ‘What?! Yes, I’m down!’… We pitched it a year and a half ago, two years ago, been developing it. We brought on Torrey DeVitto and we just wrapped last week. It’s a beautiful story. And as a producer, I got to watch a rough cut, which doesn’t happen very often!”
12. Hope Valley: 1874 goes back into production in January
The Hallmark+ series Hope Valley: 1874 has been renewed for a second season and we learned from Benjamin during the panel that he’ll be back on set to resume filming in January 2027.
“We’ll be starting in January,” Ben said. He also revealed that writers trolled him by sending photos of them in the writers room with sticky notes all over with tidbits about his character’s storyline, but they were all fake stories.
“I actually have no idea what’s to come!” he said.
13. Daniel Lissing ponders if Jack Thornton is alive or not
Daniel’s When Calls the Heart character Jack Thornton was killed off the show in the season five finale, when he died in a landslide while saving two other men. He left the show on his own decision and the showrunners opted to not recast the role, instead, writing him out with the death scene.
But, is Jack actually alive?
We asked if Daniel would ever be open to returning to When Calls the Heart through a flashback or dream sequence, but he hit us with a different option.
“Well, let me just say, flashbacks or dream sequences… they never found the body. Maybe he’s out there somewhere with amnesia… he’s like a carpenter, or something. He’s hobbling around with a sore knee. They’re like, ‘Jack, is that you?!’ He’s like, ‘Who are you?’ I don’t know… But yes, of course, we have a long relationship with Hallmark and working with them has been a real pleasure. So, you never know. I think everyone’s kind of moved on from Jack.”
The audience then screamed out, “NO!” Heather pointed out, “The people have spoken!”
14. Heather Hemmens says her pre-filming friendship with Brendan Penny was crucial to making Texas Two-Step a success
Heather had been on multiple cruises with Brendan Penny, and spent time with him at other Hallmark events as well, before working together on the hit 2026 movie Texas Two-Step.
If you didn’t know, most Hallmark movies are filmed within a three-week span and there isn’t much room for multiple takes or tons of rehearsal, so actors need to come prepared. Texas Two-Step featured multiple dance numbers that needed to be choreographed, which Heather says all happened in one day. Thankfully, she and Brendan were already close friends by the time they reached set.
“It was so important because having the element of dance in a movie like this, where we already have a crunched schedule and then they’re like, ‘You’re going to have five dance numbers. You’re going to learn them all in one day, in eight hours.’ So Brendan Penny is one of my favorite people and I feel like anything with him is a fun time and this was no exception,” Heather said.
She added, “Thank god I showed up to work with someone like him and we could hit the ground running. Like, we get each other’s humor. There were a few arguments during the dancing when it would be like, ‘Oops, it’s your fault!’ ‘No, it’s your fault!’ ‘My hand was there, your hand wasn’t there!’ So there was a little bit of squabbling and finger-pointing, but all in good fun. We had an amazing time on that movie.”
Make sure to read our full recap of everything that happened on the cruise!
Posted To:Ashley Williams Benjamin Ayres Daniel Lissing Erin Cahill Exclusive Hallmark Channel Hallmark Christmas Cruise Heather Hemmens Taylor Cole
