14 Days of Swooon
Inside Queen of Hallmark Lacey Chabert’s Newest Rom-Com ‘An Unexpected Valentine’
Just weeks after Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas ended, Lacey Chabert is back with another delightful rom-com. An Unexpected Valentine is part of Hallmark’s annual Loveuary lineup, and Chabert embraces the film’s whimsical energy. The Hallmark icon sat down with Swooon to discuss her latest romance for our 14 Days of Swooon.
“I love a Valentine’s Day movie, and what I love most about this one is it takes place in one night,” Chabert shared. “My character gets into a rideshare on Valentine’s afternoon, and she doesn’t have big plans for the night. She gets in the car, she’s getting out, saying goodbye, and she basically finds an engagement ring, so she and the driver go on a mission to find the owner of the ring.”
The driver of the rideshare? Hallmark fave Robert Buckley. “It ends up being such a fun adventure that the two characters [Hannah and Finn] end up on together,” Chabert continued. “It is very unexpected. There’s romance, there’s laughs.”
Hallmark Media / Allister Foster
An Unexpected Valentine marks the first time in Chabert’s 40-film career with Hallmark that she’s worked with the One Tree Hill alum. “I’ve actually never worked with someone who knew his lines as well as he does. I think he was word-perfect on every single line,” she revealed.
Over the course of Hannah and Finn’s adventure, they open up to each other and sparks start flying. “I think Hannah and Finn bring out an unexpected side of each other,” the actress noted. Even though they’ve both been a “bit guarded,” Hannah and Finn find one another “disarming and funny,” she said.
If Chabert discovered a lost engagement ring in real life, she’d be just as determined as Hannah to reunite the sparkler with its rightful owner — even if that meant taking a leap of faith with a stranger. “I love unexpected moments. I think that some of life’s most precious moments happen when things are unplanned and you’re just kind of in the moment,” she said.
An Unexpected Valentine is just the first of Chabert’s Hallmark films of 2025. She just signed a new multi-year, multi-picture deal with Hallmark Media. “With all of these movies, especially with the holidays and the rom-coms, we just want to bring some joy to people and hopefully create characters and scenarios that you can envision yourself in and and be willing to go along for the ride,” she told Swooon.
Loveuary has become just as synonymous with Hallmark as Countdown to Christmas, and Chabert pointed out that celebrations of love in February aren’t always romantic.
“I think it’s just a time to appreciate and that might be the love in a friendship or Galentine’s [Day]. I love that that’s become a thing, celebrating with your girlfriends. I think it’s always a good time to acknowledge and celebrate the people in your life,” she said.
In addition to Chabert’s multi-picture deal, she’s also partnering for an exclusive Hallmark product collection. “Hallmark is such a big part of people’s celebrations and milestones, and I’m so excited that I get to have a product line that will be debuting this holiday season,” she explained. “It’s gift wrap cards and glassware and beautiful gift bags. It’s all inspired by print from the Hallmark archives from the 1950s. It’s whimsical and colorful and fun.”
Watch the full video above as Chabert discusses her own Valentine’s Day plans and more.
An Unexpected Valentine, Movie Premiere, February 1, 8/7c, Hallmark
