With spooky season officially out of the way, we can officially put Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on an infinite loop and snuggle up for an endless stream of heartwarming holiday movies. Netflix has emerged as a leader in the market and shows no sign of letting up with its original film The Knight Before Christmas.
In the Christmas rom-com, a handsome 14th-century knight (Josh Whitehouse) accidentally travels through time and finds himself in the modern world, confronted by marvels such as the radio and cars. Vanessa Hudgens is Brooke, a grounded science teacher who helps him get adjusted, despite her skepticism about his true identity. Sparks fly between the two and, if the trailer is any indication, you’ll be swooning, too.
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The Knight Before Christmas isn’t Hudgens’ first foray into the wonderful world of holiday movies; last year, the actress previously starred in Netflix’s The Princess Switch, pulling a classic Lindsay Lohan by playing two roles in the same film. She will take her Parent Trap energy to the next level by playing three roles in The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again, set for release in late 2020.
Hudgens is fully aware that she’s carving out a space for herself in the holiday film genre, but she’s making sure that no two stories are alike. “I was really excited by the idea of being a staple in people’s homes for the holidays,” she told Refinery29 in an exclusive interview. “I knew if I was doing another Christmas movie, I needed to make sure that it was completely different."
The actress, who also served as a producer on The Knight Before Christmas, worked very closely with director Monika Mitchelle to ensure that the story didn’t fall back on cliché romance tropes. Her character Brooke isn’t exactly looking for love, but when she finds that feeling, she knows exactly what to do. “We wanted to show that you can still really need someone and fall in love with them even if you don’t need to be saved from yourself,” Mitchell said.
The Knight Before Christmas drops globally on Netflix on November 21.