Heavy/Hallmark/Getty Hallmark's Andrew Walker and Nikki DeLoach
When longtime Hallmark stars Andrew Walker and Nikki DeLoach reunite onscreen for “Curious Caterer: Fatal Vows,” premiering on October 13, 2023, it will be their seventh Hallmark movie together. And if they have their way, there will be many more after that.
The actors, both 44, became fast friends in 2016 when they first met on the set of Hallmark’s “A Dream of Christmas,” they told People, and quickly bonded over everything from having young kids to having a similar work ethic.
“I think just immediately, we were two peas in a pod,” Walker said. “We’re very similar in a lot of ways.”
That bond continues today as friends, neighbors and co-stars. They’ve each even formed good friendships with one another’s spouses. Here’s a look at DeLoach and Walker’s “super special” connection.
Nikki DeLoach Envisioned She & Friend Andrew Walker Would Co-Star in a Mystery Series
Over the years, DeLoach and Walker became so close that they began dreaming of being part of a Hallmark “mystery wheel” together, meaning a continuing series of mystery movies, giving them a chance to keep working together.
That dream came true in April 2022 with the premiere of “Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate,” in which Walker plays Detective Tom Schultz and DeLoach plays caterer Goldy Berry, whose curiosity keeps landing her in the middle of unsolved murder cases.
During a Facebook Live to promote the movie, Walker said they both continually stopped to express their gratitude for the opportunity.
“People have to know this, Nikki,” he said. “On a daily basis, you and I would look at each other and before the scene starts, you’d be like, ‘Can you believe this!? Can you believe what we’re doing right now?'”
Laughing, DeLoach replied, “Because it was always our dream to do a mystery together and potentially one that could (become a franchise)! This was something that you and I talked about wanting to do together for a really long time so that was…super special.”
Walker then said that DeLoach has a magical way of bringing dreams like that to fruition.
“The manifestations that she creates are very powerful,” Walker said, explaining that as soon as DeLoach told him she had envisioned them doing a mystery series together, he knew it would happen.
He said, “Thank you for putting that out there! I just had to wait.”
In February 2023, the duo reiterated that to Us Weekly, describing how DeLoach started sensing in 2019 or 2020 that they were destined to work together on what Hallmark calls a “mystery wheel,” with multiple movies starring the same team of real and amateur detectives.
“If it’s dropped into me, it’s almost like something gets channeled and I will have, like, a flash of an image of something — or I will dream of, like, a scene or something will come to me,” DeLoach told the magazine. “And this was something that came to me and I was like, ‘I think you and I have to do a mystery wheel together. I don’t exactly know what it is yet, but I saw it. I saw us doing this.'”
Walker was thrilled by the notion and trusted it would happen, saying, “Her visions come true. Nikki Deloach is a witch. She’s a witch living amongst us.”
Nikki DeLoach & Andrew Walker’s Families are Neighbors & Close Friends
When DeLoach and Walker, who each have two young sons, met before filming their first movie in the Canadian city of Winnipeg, she told People, “I felt like I had known him my entire life.”
Agreeing, Walker said, “We went and we had some chicken wings and beer, and just talked and talked about being new parents, and talked about being in Winnipeg, and talked about all the things that you go through as a parent, leaving your kids as well. And balancing work and life.”
DeLoach told the magazine that she brought her family to Winnipeg for the shoot. One weekend, she asked Walker if he would be willing to take her husband, lawyer Ryan Goodell, for a bit of guy bonding while they weren’t filming. Walker happily invited Goodell to meet for a beer to get to know each other “a little bit” and then attend a Canadian football game.
“Cut to the second half of the game,” Walker said. “I have him in a headlock, we’re screaming at the game. It was an immediate connection.”
DeLoach said her husband didn’t get back to their hotel until 4 a.m., which she saw as an “epic” success. Goodell has since become Walker’s entertainment attorney, he told People. Meanwhile, she’s become close friends with Walker’s wife, Cassandra Troy, who is often part of girls’ nights out with DeLoach and her Hallmark colleagues.
The two couples live in the same Los Angeles neighborhood and have been there for each other through both fun and difficult times. On DeLoach’s September birthday, Walker posted a video of he and Troy buying and delivering a huge balloon bouquet to her front door.
Calling DeLoach his “work wife” in the caption, he wrote, “Nik, you light up this world and leave such a positive impact on everyone you come in contact with. Thanks for being you.”
The first “Curious Caterer” mystery movie in 2022 was so well-received that the duo then filmed “Curious Caterer: Grilling Season,” which debuted in February 2023, and in April, they filmed the third installment, “Curious Caterer: Fatal Vows.”
Before the SAG-AFTRA strike began, Walker marveled to Heavy, “Nikki and I are, you know, seven movies deep now and people still want to see us.”
“Curious Caterer: Fatal Vows” premieres on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on October 13 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.