We love a Christmas movie. We love it even more when people we love are in it.
Let’s rewind – we watched a lot of Pretty Little Liars back in the day. We had our issues with the Aria and Ezra relationship (and by “issues” we mean THE ENTIRE STORYLINE), but that show is where we became fans of the actors, Lucy Hale and Ian Harding. So the news that they’re starring together in a new holiday drama has us feeling warmer than a poorly insulated small-town inn with a suspiciously attractive owner.
Enter The 12 Dates of Christmas. Hale stars as Christina Walker, a successful shop owner who has devoted all her energy to her career at the expense of her dating life — a heroine after our own overstuffed calendars. The film is directed by David Lipper, who co-wrote it with Seth Howard, and the premise is pure holiday-movie gold: after her younger siblings start getting married before her, Christina goes on 12 dates in the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas, hoping to find Mr. Right.
The moment that everything changes for her? It is the kind of dinner we all know too well — the one where someone asks why you’re still single. Christina’s response, “I’m making a pledge I am never going to be single on Christmas Eve ever again.”
Ambitious. We love it.
Cut to a year later and Christina is still single. She may be worried, but that’s what best friends are for. Enter bestie Molly, with a plan and stubborn streak – she’s not going to let her bestie go down like this.
Molly says, “You, my friend, are going to go on 12 dates in 12 weeks, so by Christmas Eve, you’ll be storming into your parents’ house with a man on your arm.”
Bring on the chaos. Twelve dates? Twelve weeks? The 12 Dates of Christmas sounds like exactly the brand of festive mayhem we will love.
The 12 Dates of Christmas arrives November 6, 2026, on Hulu in the United States, and on Disney+ internationally. Consider our calendars marked and our expectations wonderfully low-standards-proof.
