Danielle Panabaker’s been busy helping fight villains over on The CW’s “The Flash,” but she’s going to take a little break this Christmas to find love in a brand-new Hallmark holiday movie. The actress hasn’t starred on the network since her 2014 fall flick “Recipe for Love” with Shawn Roberts, but she’s ready to get back into it, this time for a new season and with a new love interest.

“Excited to be working with @hallmarkchannel again on Christmas Joy,” Panabaker tweeted on Wednesday to share the exciting news.

The movie, “Christmas Joy,” is based on Nancy Naigle’s novel of the same name and will feature Matt Long (“Mad Men”) as Panabaker’s co-star. Though this will be his first Hallmark movie, a Christmas-themed one is a great way to jump right in.

danielle panabaker new hallmark
Danielle Panabaker’s last Hallmark film was “Recipe for Love.” Crown Media / Bettina Strauss

The film follows Joy Holbrook (Panabaker), a smart market researcher who’s ready to take on her company's top account and land a promotion in time for the holidays, according to a press release. Unfortunately, before Joy can close the deal with the account's CEO, her Aunt Ruby's best friend from back home in Crystal Falls, North Carolina calls to say that Ruby’s injured her ankle and needs to have surgery.

Always ready to help her family, Joy heads home to help her aunt out, despite having a big account on the line. It’s there that she runs into an old crush, now hospital administrator, Ben Andrews (Long), the son of Aunt Ruby’s best friend. This leads Joy to have to juggle her stubborn, control-freak aunt, helping out with the town’s annual Cookie Crawl and her big work project. At least she’s able to get some help from Ben for the Cookie Crawl event, bringing the two closer together along the way.

“Danielle Panabaker is known for quality work in a number of genres, and we are especially grateful to have her on our air this Christmas,” said Michelle Vicary, EVP of Programming & Publicity for Hallmark’s parent company, Crown Media Family Networks, in a press release.

She continued: “Danielle and Matt Long deliver lively performances in this romantic comedy about love in a small town at Christmastime, all while capturing the theme of Nancy Naigle’s bestselling novel which is that the magic of Christmas will open your heart and bring you everlasting joy.”

There’s no premiere date set yet for the film, but it’s never too early to set that countdown clock for Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas event.

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