A body literally falls into the backyard of actress Hadley Warner in the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries original film CrimeTime: Freefall. The film stars Lyndie Greenwood (Sleepy Hollow) and Luke Macfarlane (Brothers & Sisters), who both participated in a group TCA panel for the channel, which will rebrand as Hallmark Mystery on March 6th. Both actors have a long history with Hallmark, and one story that emerged from the press conference was the longterm family atmosphere they create for their roster of talent.
(Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Hallmark Media)
“I think my first Hallmark film was almost 13 years ago,” shared Luke Macfarlane, whose Hallmark work includes The Memory Book (2014), The Birthday Wish (2017), Just Add Romance (2019), A Valentine's Match (2020), Taking a Shot at Love (2021), Moriah's Lighthouse (2022), Notes of Autumn (2023), plus nine Christmas films, including last year’s Catch Me if You Claus (2023). “In so many ways, in a town where you don’t often feel like you have a family, I do feel like I have a family here that encourages [me],” the Canadian-born actor living in Hollywood explained. In CrimeTime: Freefall, Luke plays Detective Shawn Caden whose life is forced to merge with Hadley Warner’s when a crime literally drops into her backyard.
“There is more comedy,” Lyndie Greenwood said of the difference between working on a Hallmark Mystery vs a science-fiction procedural show. Lyndie plays Hadley Warner, and is a more recent addition to Hallmark’s talented family, having starred in Every Time a Bell Rings (2021), Girlfriendship (2022), Holiday Heritage (2022), and Magic in Mistletoe (2023). “There is more of an emphasis on the family dynamic, the relationships in general,” Greenwood expanded. “It's all about relationships and community. And the mystery is sort of a storytelling device for that. I really love working in that space.”
In real life, Luke Macfarlane recently started a family of his own, welcoming his first daughter into the world with his partner. “I don't have children of my own but working with them actually makes me want to have kids,” Lyndie Greenwood revealed about playing a mother to on-screen kids in CrimeTime: Freefall. The film begins with the cancellation of Hadley Warner’s long-running detective TV series, which prompts her to uproot their lives to Hadley’s hometown of Mystic, Colorado, a small mountain community where her mother lives. “It was so delightful. And our grandma, it really made the whole thing feel, well, like a family. And it's a really interesting aspect to solving a mystery, which I've never worked with before. I loved it.”
(Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Hallmark Media)
In case you didn’t notice, this film has a subtitle, implying that it could become a series of films for Hallmark Mystery, similar to Murder She Baked/A Hannah Swensen Mystery, which adds its ninth installment this May. “We always look at these franchises as potential series,” explained Hallmark Media’s SVP of Development Elizabeth Yost, who was also part of the panel. “We look at the characters and see what their relationships look like, how can we develop them, how can we put that romance into these movies, as well, and how do we do that push/pull relationship, and that slow burn? So not only is there a mystery but underneath it, there are very deep character layers that go on throughout the [installments].”
Naturally, a will-they/won’t-they type of dynamic begins to develop between Hadley Warner and Detective Shawn Caden. It’s an opposites-attract type of relationship that audiences will want to see play out, set against a backdrop of small-town mysteries to be solved by one career detective and another who played one on TV. But when it comes to the actor's personal taste in mysteries, Lyndie Greenwood and Luke Macfarlane are on opposite spectrums. “Poirot, Lieutenant Provenza [from The Closer], one of my absolute favorite characters in television,” Luke Macfarlane began, expanding even further. “And how could we not mention Columbo? Those are mine.” Lyndie Greenwood had one answer, which really spoke to the comedic dynamic of the characters they play in CrimeTime: Freefall – “Scooby-Doo.”
CrimeTime: Freefall premieres tonight at 9/8c on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, streaming soon on Hallmark Movies Now, playing on-demand through cable providers, and coming to streaming platforms with a Hallmark partnership like Peacock and Hulu.