New Hallmark Christmas movie to be filmed at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville :: WRAL.com
A new Hallmark Christmas movie is set to be filmed and take place at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville starting in January 2026.
Holland Roden (Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story, Teen Wolf) and Niall Matter (We Met in December, This Time Each Year) will star in a new holiday love story set at the Biltmore, which will premiere in 2026 during Hallmark Channel’s 17th annual Countdown to Christmas programming event.
Johnathan Frakes, who starred as Winston in “A Biltmore Christmas,” will reprise his role from the original 2023 movie.
Production begins in January at the historic Biltmore Estate, as well as at Asheville’s Fine Arts Theatre, Pack’s Taven and in downtown Asheville.
Dustin Rikert (Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story, The Christmas Quest) is set to direct the screenplay from Marcy Holland, who wrote the original “A Biltmore Christmas” after taking inspiration from visiting the actual estate.
“When A Biltmore Christmas premiered, it immediately became a fan favorite and an instant classic,” said Michelle Vicary, the head of programming at Hallmark Media. “Marcy Holland … has created another captivating romance set in this unique and special place. We can’t wait for viewers to travel back to Biltmore and fall for this new love story as much as they did the first one.”
The new movie that is scheduled to premiere during the 2026 holiday season is about a 13-year-old Elizabeth on Christmas Eve 1895, who meets a fellow teen, Michael, who is caught trespassing by Biltmore House staff.
Elizabeth comes to his rescue by claiming to know him, and the two share an instant connection and explore the Biltmore before Michael inexplicably vanishes.
Twenty years later, Elizabeth is spending Christmas at the Biltmore, accompanied by a suitor with whom she is to wed. When a stranger asks Elizabeth to dance, she’s shocked to discover it is Michael.
Thrilled to reunite with her friend, she throws herself into his arms, afterwhich the world around her changes in an instant. She finds herself transported to the modern world with Michael, a tourist from the present day who traveled to the past with the help of a magical hourglass in the Biltmore’s library— a plot device used as the central plot-driver in “A Biltmore Christmas.”
A new movie features the time-travel hourglass used in ‘A Biltmore Christmas.’
The 2023 movie, led by Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha, was filmed completely at the Biltmore House, showcasing primarily the Conservatory, Winter Garden, Tapestry Gallery, Banquet Hall, Billiard Room and the Library, which was the home of the hourglass responsible for the characters’ time-traveling adventures.
The 2026 movie will feature those locations as well as new rooms such as the Rooftop, Pergola, Swimming Pool, Bowling Alley, Breakfast Room, Oak Sitting Room, Main Kitchen, Music Room and Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Bedroom, allowing the viewer to further explore the house.
During filming, these locations will closed to the public.
