Exclusive Interview
Erin Krakow Dishes on Her ’Second Chance’ With Tyler Hynes in Hallmark’s ‘Christmas Above the Clouds’
What To Know
- Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes reunite five years after It Was Always You for their first Christmas movie together, Christmas Above the Clouds.
- Christmas Above the Clouds is a retelling of the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol.
- Krakow told Swooon that her role in Christmas Above the Clouds is one she’s “not typically given the opportunity to explore.”
It Was Always You fans, we are so back. Five years after starring in one of the best Hallmark movies ever, Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes have reunited for Christmas Above the Clouds, premiering November 8. In this Christmas Carol retelling, Krakow plays Ella Neezer, a tough-as-nails workaholic who hopes to skip Christmas completely by flying to Australia.
When she steps on board, her former love, Jake, is sitting right next to her. With the help of three spirits, Ella goes on a journey to rediscover the magic of Christmas and the love she lost. Krakow spoke with Swooon about her long-awaited reunion with Hynes and how the role of Ella is the polar opposite to Elizabeth Thornton from When Calls the Heart.
“The writing was really so smart, and the comedy was tight and clever, and it really allowed for a lot of transformation within the story,” Krakow said. “I was, of course, excited to reunite with some of my favorites, Peter Benson, who was directing, and when I learned that Tyler might be willing to join us, I was thrilled.”
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She continued, “We’ve been wanting to reunite on a project for some time. We filmed It Was Always You back in 2020, so it’s really been a while. It didn’t disappoint. It was great to get to work with him again.”
The actress revealed that she filmed Christmas Above the Clouds right before starting production on When Calls the Heart Season 13. The roles of Ella and Elizabeth couldn’t be more different. Ella’s giving a mix of The Christmas Carol’s Ebenezer Scrooge and Miranda Priestley from The Devil Wears Prada.
“That is not a role that I’m typically given the opportunity to explore, so getting to be a little harsh and selfish and direct, I guess, was an interesting new color for me to get to play,” Krakow noted.
Some of the background cast and crew from When Calls the Heart also worked on Christmas Above the Clouds. “It was really very fun and funny to get to see their response to me in a role that is just so different from Elizabeth, right. I think everyone got a bit of a chuckle out of that new side of me,” Krakow quipped.
Ella and Jake reconnect on their day-long flight after years apart. Krakow teased that even though Ella and Jake haven’t been together for some time, they’ve still been “on some level pining for one another. It’s really satisfying to see them getting a second chance at exploring that love story.”
We love a second chance romance here at Swooon! Speaking of chances, could Krakow and Hynes get a third chance at starring in a movie together? “Maybe if we start talking about that project now, we can get it going so that it doesn’t happen five years from now,” Krakow quipped.
Christmas Above the Clouds, Movie Premiere, November 8, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel
