Exclusive Interview
How ‘Virgin River’s Zibby Allen Manifested Her ‘Pickleball Christmas’ Role
All roads lead back to pickleball for Zibby Allen. The Virgin River star makes her holiday movie debut in Lifetime’s A Pickleball Christmas alongside One Tree Hill alum James Lafferty.
Allen plays Caroline, a pickleball coach who teams up with tennis star Luke Hollis (Lafferty) to compete in a tournament to save his family’s racquet club. As they make plays to win, Caroline and Luke also start catching feelings. Swooon spoke with Allen about stepping on the holiday movie turf for the first time.
“I only discovered pickleball, I’d say, three or four months before I got this role. Ben Hollingsworth, who’s my costar, as you know, on Virgin River, he and I had signed up to participate in a pickleball tournament to raise awareness and funds for Melanoma Canada,” Allen revealed. “And that was supposed to be happening months and months and months down the line. So I was like, well, if I’m going to do this, I have to learn a thing or two about pickleball. And so I got a few lessons, and then I became instantly addicted. So my next job just happened to be this offer for A Pickleball Christmas. And of course, just because of the pickleball of it alone, I was like, I’m in, obviously, but I genuinely love the game.”
Lifetime
At first, Caroline and Luke’s teamwork isn’t exactly serving up success. However, the more they get to know each other, the more they notice an undeniable connection between them.
“I don’t know if you ever saw the movie The Cutting Edge. Reading the script reminded me of that,” Allen explained. “I like that they’re two really competitive people in the world of sports and that they’re both hard-headed. There isn’t one that is soft and pining for the other. Neither of them are looking for love. Neither of them are open for business. Both of them have two really different agendas. And I think where they meet and find this spark is through their competitive natures and to fight to save the racquet club.”
Virgin River has certainly celebrated the holidays, but A Pickleball Christmas is Allen’s first official holiday movie. Allen revealed that her dad is a “Christmas movie freak. He loves Hallmark, he loves Lifetime, he loves these shows that make you feel good and believe in the goodness of people. I feel like I really did this for my dad more than anything else. Who knows if I do it again? I’m so happy that I’ve done it, and I really love how it turned out, so I hope people enjoy it.”
Given the pickleball craze, could we see Bree and Brady play the game in the next season of Virgin River? “I’ve already told the showrunner,” Allen told Swooon. “I’m like, look, this is a skill set I have that I can bring to Virgin River. Ben and I got so into it because we’ve been playing together, and so we want to bring a pickleball net, like a portable one, to set, so we can play off-screen. But maybe they’ll sort of lean into it.”
A Pickleball Christmas, Movie Premiere, Saturday, December 20, 8/7c, Lifetime
