Sarah Drew Talks Hallmark+ Series ‘Mistletoe Murders’ [Interview]

With the Christmas holiday fast approaching, Hallmark+ has a new show to help viewers get into the festive feeling. Mistletoe Murders follows Emily Lane, a Christmas shop owner with a secret past who uses her unique talents to help solve murders.

I recently spoke with Sarah Drew, who plays Emily Lane in the new series, about what viewers can expect from Mistletoe Murders Season 1. (You can watch the full interview below.)

Christmas movies and shows often follow the themes of joy and togetherness. With Mistletoe Murders, Drew explained that being able to mix drama and crime to those themes is what made this project and character stand out to her.

“I think what’s so exciting about this character is that there’s so many different layers to her. I just love Emily because she’s good at her core, and she wants goodness in the world, in her life, and for her friends,” Drew said.

“You (viewers) care about her. You lean in. You’re like, ‘I wanna know more about this person.’ So I was just really excited to get to play such a multifaceted person who gets to take on different modes all the time as she’s interacting with all these different people.”

Watch the full interview with Sarah Drew:

With her character being such a multifaceted personality, Drew was able to take the role as a chance to learn more about herself and society.

“I think it’s reflective of who we all are. I think we all have an internal monologue that is happening at all times that’s not what’s happening on the outside. It’s a very different story that our brains are telling, I think there’s something really beautiful about getting to really reflect the complexity of that,” Drew explained.

“You can’t 100% of the time be entirely true to yourself. We’re too messy, we care too much about being accepted. So getting to kind of shed a light on that and illuminate the weirdness of the double, triple, quadruple lives we all live and breathe in is a pretty fun character ride to take.”

In true Hallmark fashion, along with its mystery and crime, Mistletoe Murders  also follows an exciting new love story between Emily and Sam (Peter Mooney). And Drew had nothing but positive things to say about her co-star.

“Peter Mooney is so dreamy, wonderful, and such a great actor. He’s the best acting partner. It’s so fun to watch him switch from dad mode to cop mode, to now I’m hanging out with Emily and I don’t know what to do with myself mode,” Drew said.

“We really take our time because it’s a series, and we hope to go for many years. So we can’t just pack it all into the first episode. We really got to tease it out, and I think we do a really beautiful job of that. If you love romance, you will not be disappointed, but we also aren’t showing all of our cards.”

With Drew’s character joining the long list of TV and film detectives, we asked her who she thinks would want to have a Christmas dinner with Emily.

“What makes this show so unique is that we’re mixing Christmas and mystery. And when you think about detectives and mystery, they’re not usually crazy for Christmas. So I feel like any, from Sherlock Holmes, Jessica Fletcher, Matlock, Columbo, any one of them would sit down with someone who’s crazy for Christmas and be like, ‘Ugh,’” Drew said.

“But if anybody can change somebody like a hardened detective who’s seen a lot of junk in life, if anybody could change their mind and soften them and make them a little joyous for Christmas, it would be Emily Lane.” 

New episodes of Mistletoe Murders stream Thursdays on Hallmark+.

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