Hunter King embraced everything Kansas City has to offer while filming her upcoming Hallmark movie, Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.
“The best of Kansas City⚾️🏈,” King, 30, captioned a series of Instagram photos on Thursday, July 4, after taking in some of the Missouri city’s biggest attractions.
The actress attended a Kansas City Royals baseball game, wearing a navy tennis-inspired short-sleeved dress and white SeaVees sneakers. She shared several photos from the sporting event before giving fans a glimpse at the Kansas City Chiefs’ GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“Thank you @hallmarkchannel ❤️ Can’t wait for what’s to come!” King continued, adding a behind-the-scenes photo of the Hallmark camera crew inside the stadium, where the 2024 Super Bowl champs play their home games.
King also posted a snap of the inside of Arrowhead Stadium completely empty, as it was vacated for the movie crew to film.
While the iconic red and yellow stadium seats were hard to miss, the green turf football field was noticeably missing. In its place was a white tarp and stage fixtures, hinting that the upcoming Christmas movie won’t be all about the NFL team or the physical game of football.
King’s costar in the movie, Tyler Hynes, also shared a video from set. His social media tease showed the cameramen inside the Chiefs locker room and a view from the press box: complete with the bright green stadium field.
Hynes, 38, also gave a glimpse at the fireworks show at Royals ballpark, revealing that he was also on hand to watch the baseball game with King earlier this month.
“There’s been some absolutely lovely individuals making every step of these journeys [sic] unforgettable. To the incredible folks thus far, thank you for every moment,” Hynes captioned his Thursday Instagram post, teasing a few of his upcoming projects. “To everyone who’s reactions to these adventures has made it a party, 🙏🏻🤍😊. and to the new friends, here’s to you 🥃. This next one will be interesting :).”
King and Hynes’ odes to Kansas City came less than two weeks after Hallmark announced that it was teaming up with the Chiefs to release the ultimate football rom-com.
Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story will premiere later this year as part of the network’s “Countdown to Christmas” collection. King is playing Alana Higman, who is “sure that her family’s lifelong history as a Kansas City Chiefs superfans makes them a frontrunner to win the team’s ‘Fan of the Year’ contest,” according to the June 25 press release.
Hynes, meanwhile, will portray the director of fan engagement, Derrick, who is “tasked with evaluating how Alana and her family stack up against the other two finalists.”
The official synopsis reads: “As the pair spends time together, it’s clear there’s a spark between them, but when her grandfather’s (Ed Begley Jr.) vintage Chiefs good luck winter hat goes missing, Alana begins to doubt everything she believed about fate, destiny and even questions her future with Derrick — unless, that is, a little Christmas magic can throw a Hail Mary.”
“We are honored to partner with Hallmark on a project as unique as this,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan said in a statement last month. “As a club, we pride ourselves on exploring new ways to grow our brand, as well as connect with new audiences. This partnership unites two passionate fanbases and gives us an opportunity to show Chiefs Kingdom’s energy and tradition on one of the most-watched channels during the holiday season.”
Ahead of its collaboration with Hallmark, the Chiefs made a teaser trailer in January about a fake rom-com that mimicked many tropes that are featured on the network. The spoof starred Hynes and Janel Parrish and was created to hype up the team’s road to Super Bowl LVIII.
The Chiefs’ Super Bowl win in February was a hot topic for sports fans and music lovers alike as Taylor Swift’s romance with tight end Travis Kelce pulled in record-breaking viewership.
The twosome, who began dating in summer 2023, made headlines throughout the 2023-2024 football season when Swift, 34, continued to pop up at Arrowhead.
Although the new Hallmark movie about the NFL team and its city isn’t about Swift and Kelce, also 34, the network’s chief brand officer Darren Abbot dropped a possible Easter egg about their love story in his statement about the film.
“With Hallmark and the Kansas City Chiefs both homegrown, rooted in values, tradition and community, there is a special alchemy between these two iconic organizations,” Abbott said last month, giving a nod to Swift’s 2024 track “The Alchemy,” which is thought to be about Kelce.
He added: “By blending the warmth of Hallmark storytelling with the excitement of professional football, we are thrilled to give audiences a front-row seat to this community’s spirit, rich traditions and passionate fans that define Kansas City, all wrapped up in the comforting and uplifting Hallmark way.”
Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story’s premiere date has not been announced.
