Hallmark Channel might not see new installments in some of their favorite movie mystery sagas. The network has axed a trio of series over the past several months. The Picture Perfect Mysteries, Hailey Dean Mysteries and Matchmaker Mysteries movie franchises were all canceled between November 2021 and January 2022. While Hallmark never announced the cancellations in a formal matter, stars of each franchise spoke out about its decisions on social media.
The cancellation spree started in November when Alexa PenaVega told fans via her Instagram Story there would be no more Picture Perfect Mysteries, Heavy reported at the time. “Any more mystery movies in the making???” one fan asked PenaVega. “Sadly no,” she replied.
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The Picture Perfect Mysteries franchise featured PenaVega as wedding photographer Allie Adams and started with Picture Perfect Mysteries: Newlywed and Dead in 2019. She made two more – Dead Over Diamonds and Exit Stage, Death – in 2020. PenaVega’s husband, singer Carlos PenaVega, co-starred in all three movies as Detective Sam Acosta, who welcomes Allie to unofficially help him on murder cases. Although Allie’s adventures might be done, PenaVega recently starred in another Hallmark movie, Taking a Shot at Love.
In early December, Kellie Martin said she will no longer be playing Hailey Dean in Hallmark movies. The former ER star played the character in nine Hailey Dean Mystery movies from 2016 to 2019, with the last being Killer Sentence. “I just found out that Hailey Dean is done at Hallmark,” Martin tweeted on Dec. 1. “Really sad and sorry to report.” Hailey was Martin’s second Hallmark character, as she also played Samantha Kinsey in 11 Mystery Woman movies between 2003 and 2007.
Danica McKellar is one of the most popular Hallmark Channel stars, having appeared in over a dozen since 2015. She played Angie Dove in the Matchmaker Mysteries series, which saw its last entry, The Art of the Kill, air in 2021. McKellar has already moved on from Hallmark though. Her first movie for GAC Family, The Winter Palace, aired in January.
On Jan. 22, McKellar told fans Hallmark is not making more Matchmaker Mysteries movies. “They decided to stop making them last summer, along with many others!” she wrote. “Let them know how you feel; I’d love to make more mysteries – a lot of us would.”
Hallmark later confirmed the network has no plans to order more Matchmaker Mysteries movies. “At this time, there are no further installments of Matchmaker Mysteries in development,” a spokesperson told ShowBiz CheatSheet. The three Matchmaker Mysteries movies – A Killer Engagement (2019), A Fatal Romance (2020), and The Art of the Kill – will continue to air on the network though.
