Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis will star in Happiest Season, a film about family, love, and acceptance, set to be the first major LGBT+ holiday rom-com. In Happiest Season, Abby (Stewart) has plans to propose to her girlfriend Harper (Davis) when attending her family’s annual Christmas dinner. These plans are interrupted when Abby realizes Harper’s conservative parents do not even know their daughter is gay yet.
Stewart told People she has wished to see a gay Christmas rom-com her whole life. Likewise, fans are thrilled about the film’s cast featuring many other LGBT+ actresses and actors, such as Parks and Recreation‘s Aubrey Plaza, Schitt’s Creek‘s Dan Levy, and Legends of Tomorrow‘s Victor Garber, as well as the director and creator herself (Clea DuVall). DuVall’s main motivation for writing the script was that she was passionate about holiday films, but she had never seen her story represented in one.
Moreover, Stewart summarized the importance of LGBT+ representation in an interview with InStyle by saying that she loves the idea that her being queer publicly can help and encourage someone who is struggling. “When I see a little kid clearly feeling themselves in a way that they wouldn’t have when I grew up, it makes me skip,” she said.
Although distributing rights in the United States were recently bought by Hulu, Sony Pictures and Entertainment One (both responsible for the film’s financing and original distribution) will distribute it in Canada and the rest of the world. In the United States, the film is set to premiere on November 25 on Hulu, skipping theatrical release in the said country due to low movie theatre capacity caused by the pandemic. In Sony’s press release, the director said: “I am beyond grateful to Hulu for providing an incredible home for Happiest Season, and I’ll forever cherish my journey with Sony Pictures who felt just as strongly as I did about the value of bringing the first major LGBTQ+ holiday rom-com to audiences.”
Read Sony’s synopsis for the film below:
Meeting your girlfriend’s family for the first time can be tough. Planning to propose at her family’s annual Christmas dinner — until you realize that they don’t even know she’s gay — is even harder. When Abby (Kristen Stewart) learns that Harper (Mackenzie Davis) has kept their relationship a secret from her family, she begins to question the girlfriend she thought she knew. Happiest Season is a holiday romantic comedy that hilariously captures the range of emotions tied to wanting your family’s acceptance, being true to yourself, and trying not to ruin Christmas.