There’s one thing comforting about tuning into any one of many upcoming Hallmark films and realizing that everybody will get their blissful ending. The bakery will probably be saved, the homicide will probably be solved, the man will get the woman, and so on. How we get to that time, nonetheless, shouldn’t be as apparent. Longtime Hallmark star Alison Sweeney has written the scripts for the previous couple of Hannah Swensen mysteries, and she or he instructed me how she likes to “combine it up” so the flicks aren’t so predictable.
Alison Sweeney has been enjoying baker-turned-detective Hannah Swensen for a decade now, with the newest Homicide, She Baked adaptation, Actuality Bites, hitting the 2025 TV schedule as a part of February’s Loveuary lineup. CinemaBlend was in a position to speak to Sweeney in regards to the challenge, and she or he stated she liked the problem of constructing the story “completely different or new or ultimately stunning” by her writing:
It simply by no means feels drained or repetitive. I actually sit up for it each time, and as we’re growing the mysteries and the tales, I really feel the identical manner as I think about an viewers feels, you recognize? They don’t wish to be bored, they usually don’t wish to really feel like they completely know the way it’s gonna go. So something I can do to combine it up or change issues round or discover a new manner into the thriller.
She’s proper that whereas there could also be a excellent Hallmark film method, it’s not as a lot enjoyable for viewers if there aren’t a number of surprises alongside the way in which (for instance, the sensible Monty Python joke Alison Sweeney included in Actuality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Thriller).
Lacey Chabert, one other star on the community, has stated in response to criticism of Hallmark films being too formulaic that she additionally tries to discover a new, stunning manner into her characters, and she or he identified how Hallmark has advanced over the previous few years to sort out new issues like comedy and heavier material. Alison Sweeney spoke to CinemaBlend in regards to the different components, if you’ll, that she provides to deepen the flavour of her Hannah Swensen mysteries, saying:
Leaning into the romance, I feel, helps loads and the household dynamic in order that the viewers actually has one thing that they’ll take pleasure in aside and separate from fixing the thriller. Then it’s not simply in regards to the clues, despite the fact that that’s so necessary and there’s loads to elucidate. If I can transfer the relationships ahead or not, or again, and trigger some private drama there too, that’s at all times actually satisfying.
Nobody ever appears to accuse Hannah Swensen’s baked items of missing taste, and I assume we will say the identical for Alison Sweeney’s scripts. I like that we get a little Hannah and Chad romance on the aspect of our homicide. Throw in some difficult household dynamics with Hannah’s mother Delores, and truthfully, nothing is predictable.
If you happen to didn’t get an opportunity to catch Actuality Bites the primary time round, the newest Hannah Swensen Thriller will re-air at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, March 2, on Hallmark Thriller.