Crown Media Christmas In Evergreen
The Christmas in Evergreen movies are a favorite among Hallmark viewers. This year brings a new addition to the series: Christmas in Evergreen 4. The official title for the 2020 movie is Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing. We have some spoilers and behind-the-scenes details about what viewers can expect for the new season.
This article will have some minor spoilers for the fourth movie in the Christmas in Evergreen series.
The New Movie Airs December 5 & Focuses on a Wedding
Crown MediaA scene from a previous Christmas in Evergreen installment.
This year’s latest installment airs December 5. The description reads: “As Michelle’s (Peete) wedding approaches, Hannah (Bernard) steps up to help finish the launch of the new Evergreen museum while questioning her relationship and future with Elliot (Cayonne).”
This year’s movie stars Holly Robinson Peete, Colin Lawrence, Rukiya Bernard, Antonio Cayonne, and Barbara Niven.
Rukiya Bernard & Antonio Cayonne Play the Leads This Year
Crown MediaAntonio Cayonne and Rukiya Bernard in a previous Evergreen installment.
Rukiya Bernard announced in mid-October that she and Antonio Cayonne will be portraying the leads this year. This is Bernard’s first lead role in a Hallmark movie.
Bernard wrote on Instagram:
I’m a lead in a @hallmarkchannel Christmas movie!!! I wanted to say something profound about reaching this point in my career, but words escaped me. So now, here we go: For years I’ve had the support of many #hallmarkies and fans wondering when I’d get my turn to lead a love story. As a dark skin Black actress who’s rocked braids or natural hair her whole career, rarely seeing other people who look like me on screen, I can’t stress how important #representationmatters when you want your dreams to come true. In paying it forward, I hope my simply being in this movie will be one small nudge to help some young up and coming actress who looks like me believe that it’s possible for her too. And if she/he/they don’t see themselves in me maybe they’ll see themselves in one of the 5 other BIPOC characters featured in this diverse and inclusive #Christmas story. I’d be remiss to not say, @hollyrpeete you’ve been this inspiration of possibility for me well before we met four years ago on #CIE1 To share the screen has been a dream come true. @antoniocayonne LET’S GET THIS!!! #ChristmasInEvergreen 4 day 1 in the can. #loveisintheair
You can see her Instagram post below, which includes a behind-the-scenes photo.
Cayonne shared his own post just a few days before hers. He said he didn’t write about his new role at first because he didn’t want to sound like he was bragging, but he realized he needed to tell people about his first lead role and what perseverance can bring. He wrote:
I’ve always worked to be the role model I needed when I was younger.
This month I failed to do that.
See, when I was younger I needed to see what kind of spaces I could show up in. I needed to see that someone who looked like me didn’t have to have the ceilings that I had grown up seeing. I needed to see someone like me succeed by working hard, and earning it.
This month, I failed to share what stands as the biggest accomplishment of my career because I’ve always been afraid of bragging, or conceit, or being made fun of, frankly… because it had happened in the past.
But I owe it to my younger self, to myself today, and to anyone who has sacrificed or contributed for me to be in this position to say congratulations and to celebrate myself.
I booked a Lead Role. I booked a Lead!
On Tuesday, we start shooting Christmas in Evergreen 4 and for the first time I am the main storyline. As my friend put it yesterday, I’ve leveled up. And younger me needs to hear that this is possible, that hard work pays off, and that we belong.
The lead story in a @hallmarkchannel movie that features 2 BIPOC actors in a diverse town set in anywhere USA. That’s HUGE! Representation Matters.
There are so many people responsible for this happening, and when I tell this story I give each and everyone of them credit.
But I’ve always left one person out.
Me.This is beyond exciting. This is empowering. This is game changing for my belief system.
This is what I’ve been working towards and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.Hey younger me: CHECK US OUT!!
You can see his post below:
Bernard also shared a video in October to talk about how excited she was about the movie.
Cayonne later shared this photo, which doesn’t reveal much but is amusing. He wrote “Working on a backstory.” A friend responded: “Seafood is a nice cover, but I’m certain that truck is filled with magical snow globes.” Cayonne wrote back: “Elliot’s tricky like that.”
Holly Robinson Peete Shared Photos on Instagram as Mayor Michelle
Peete, who appears in every Christmas in Evergreen installment, took to Instagram to share photos of herself getting ready to return to the land of Evergreen. She wrote: “New character! Who Dis??!! 😂🎄 Meet Michelle-Mayor of Evergreen!! Let’s Goooooo. #ChristmasinEvergreen4”
Lisa Vidal responded with heart-faced emojis and Taj George wrote: “OMG! I LOVE IT!”
Rodney Peete wrote: “Heyyyyy Mayor!”
Everyone who saw her post responded with enthusiasm, telling her how great she looks in the role. On October 18, Peete shared this photo from the set:
Ashley Williams, who played the lead in the first Christmas in Evergreen movie, shared her own excitement in an Instagram post. She said they just completed the fourth movie and was so excited to see Bernard and Peete leading the new movie after starting out in supporting roles for the fourth.
She wrote:
The Christmas in Evergreen movies have always been about women, to me. I shot the first movie with a three month old, my second child, who I was nursing whenever the cameras weren’t rolling. I was underslept, stressed, and missing my husband and first born. But talking to seasoned mothers like @hollyrpeete @barbaraniven and @rukiya.bernard on set at the time about the challenges of work/family balance, laughing with them and hearing their stories and wisdom at a time when I felt so desperate, was a game changer for me years ago. But now? Getting to come back every year to work on the sequels? To have just completed THE FOURTH Christmas in Evergreen movie, to have documented the changes and growth in all of our lives for years and years? This is a GIFT. And now, best of all, to see my Holly and Rukiya, who for the first movie we’re supporting characters now be the straight up LEADS of this fourth movie, well that might just be the most satisfying part of this journey yet. More please. More Rukiya. More Evergreen. More reunions. More women. Thank you @heatherjnyc, @poperandy, @michellevicaryhc and @zachug for continuing this spirit of Evergreen for all these years. I’m so grateful.
Here’s her post, with behind-the-scenes photos.
The other two photos in her set above show the care they took during the filming because of the pandemic, including wearing masks.
Marci T. House also shared this behind-the-scenes photo on October 20, showing her and Peete on the set.
House is in more than one Christmas movie on Hallmark this year. She also shared this photo with Tom Pickett, who plays her father in one of the Christmas movies she’s in.