Jenna Bush Hager to Make Acting Debut in Hallmark’s Kansas City Chiefs Movie

Jenna Bush Hager provided the Today show with one very special gift!

“It’s Christmas in July… and I’ve got a hot script! Pumped that I get to be a part of Hallmark’s upcoming holiday movie — a Chiefs love story 🏈🎬💓#touchdown #87,” she wrote in a video shared on Instagram on Thursday.

In the clip, the anchor — who has never acted before — shocked her co-hosts when she appeared on set in a Christmas hat, and a Travis Kelce jersey. 

“It’s Christmas in July, I’m announcing something really cool, can you guess what it is?” she asked all of her co-anchors including Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Hoda Kotb, and Sheinelle Jones. 

“I’ve got a hot script,” she teased waving a folded white piece of paper. “First of all, I thought it was about Taylor [Swift] and Travis [Kelce] and I thought I got the Taylor role but I didn’t…shocker.” 

When asked what she can share about her role, Hager remained tight-lipped.  

“I can’t tell you anything about my role,” she said. 

However, she did give her co-anchors a little synopsis of the movie.  

“It’s a super fan who falls in love with a man who works for the team,” she hinted. “It’s Hallmark, let’s think football, let’s think Christmas in July.”

“Oh, I like it,” Kotb said.

The video ended with Roker looking into the camera and giving the moment his seal of approval. 

“This is the best,” he said. 

In June, Hallmark Media and the Kansas City Chiefs announced they were working on a film centered around the football field. Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story will pay full homage to the Chiefs as it will only film in Kansas City, including on the field at Arrowhead Stadium, which has never been featured before in a Hallmark movie. 

Tyler Hynes, Hunter King, and Ed Begley Jr. are set to star in the project with King playing Alana Higman, who is a finalist with her family in the team’s “Fan of the Year” contest. Derrick (Hynes), who is the director of fan engagement, is tasked with evaluating the three finalists and sparks fly as he spends time with Alana. However, conflict strikes when a lucky vintage Chiefs winter hat belonging to her grandfather (Begley Jr.) 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,” the movie’s synopsis reads.

The film comes after the Chiefs has a season like no other, as all eyes were on their games due to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s love story — that began before the 2023 football season. It has yet to be determined if either will make an appearance in the film. 

Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story will air during Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas. 

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