Benjamin Ayres Says Surprise Call Led to Onscreen Reunion With Alison Sweeney

Heavy/Hallmark Alison Sweeney and Benjamin Ayres star in Hallmark's "Love and Jane"

Three years after Hallmark aired the last of five “Chronicle Mysteries” movies starring Benjamin Ayres and Alison Sweeney, the duo will reunite onscreen in Hallmark Channel’s Jane Austen-inspired “Love and Jane” on February 10, 2024.

Their re-pairing is exciting for fans, but also for both actors, who’ve talked in recent interviews about how much they love working together. The idea for their reunion, Ayres recently told Heavy, was Sweeney’s. In fact, she asked Hallmark execs if she could offer the role to him in a surprise call.

The duo’s new movie will mark the first of multiple onscreen reunions Hallmark execs have planned for 2024. Programming EVP Lisa Hamilton Daly told Variety this week she’s intent on reuniting iconic duos in upcoming projects, like the just-announced re-pairing of former “When Calls The Heart” couple Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing in a Christmas movie that’s currently filming in Vancouver.

Here’s what you need to know:

Benjamin Ayres Says He Was Thrilled When Alison Sweeney Called to Suggest an Onscreen Reunion

HallmarkBenjamin Ayres and Alison Sweeney in “Love and Jane”

In “Love and Jane,” according to Hallmark press materials, Sweeney plays ad exec Lilly, who is such a big fan of Jane Austen’s timeless novels that she runs a local book club devoted to the writer’s works. But as she attempts to keep her favorite bookstore from being shut down by its new owner, a tech billionaire played by Ayres, the 19th century author, played by Kendra Anderson, inexplicably shows up to provide Lilly with advice.

In a recent interview with Heavy, Ayres said that once Sweeney was cast for the movie, she asked his agent and Hallmark if she could call her old friend and co-star to offer him the role.

“She goes, ‘I’m doing a movie and I want you to be my lead,'” he said of her surprise call. “I was like, ‘That’s amazing!'”

Sweeney told him about Hallmark’s plans for Loveuary, focusing on an Austen-themed movie each weekend of February, and that he’d get to play a billionaire in their movie.

“I said, ‘100 percent! I’m so excited,'” he recalled, adding that her call — and their excitement about working together again — is another example of how special the community of actors is at Hallmark.

“Within Hallmark, we all love working with one another and I’m so grateful,” he said.

Ayres also got to reunite with his “Cranberry Christmas” co-star Nikki DeLoach in January’s “True Justice: Family Ties,” when they played supporting roles in the mystery movie she wrote. He told Heavy he treasures the friendships he’s made with his co-stars over the years and any chance to work with them again.

He said, “One thing I love about making these movies is, you know, you kind of wait to be like, ‘Who am I going to be cast with? Who’s my new friend for life gonna be?’ It’s hard to make new friends the older you get, and it’s exciting to make cool ones (when you) make a movie together and have this beautiful experience.”

Hallmark Wants to Build on Success of Pairing Popular Past Duos in New Movies

HallmarkScott Wolf and Lacey Chabert in “A Merry Scottish Christmas”

Reuniting actors who have played popular duos in past movies or series is a strategy that’s already been successful for Hallmark. For instance, the November 2023 onscreen reunion of Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf, who played siblings on the long-running 90s TV series “Party of Five” was ratings gold for Hallmark, making “A Merry Scottish Christmas” the most-watched cable movie of the year. 

When Variety asked programming head Daly whether fans can count on similar reunions moving forward, she said, “100 percent. That’s sort of one of our categories that we think of: Who can we reunite on screen that the fans are just going to be so excited about?”

Hearties, the nickname for fans of Hallmark’s long-running series “When Calls The Heart,” were thrilled when the network announced on February 6 that series lead Erin Krakow is reuniting with Daniel Lissing in an upcoming Christmas movie. Lissing played Jack Thornton, who was married to her character Elizabeth during the first five seasons of the series, until he was killed in a landslide.

On the Heavy on Hallmark Facebook page, fans have cheered the actors’ upcoming onscreen reunion, with one writing, “#Hearties are thankful excited and will break records.”

Later this year, Sweeney will be part of another reunion, when she pairs back up with Victor Webster, who played her husband in the “Wedding Veil” movies. Hallmark recently announced Webster is joining Sweeney’s popular “Hannah Sweeney” mystery franchise, replacing Cameron Mathison as her character’s love interest.

As for whether she and Ayres might eventually reboot their “Chronicle Mysteries,” Sweeney told Us Weekly that Hallmark has chosen to focus instead on “Hannah Sweeney” for her, but added, “Oh my gosh, we loved working on those movies together. It was so much fun.”