days of our lives alum jen lilley hallmark's countdown to christmas event
Credit: Image: Jill Johnson/JPI

Days of our Lives alum just wants to be like Betty White.

Recently, Soaps.com’s Kristyn Burtt interviewed Days of our Lives alum Jen Lilley (Theresa Donovan), who gave us an inside look into her upcoming new Hallmark Countdown to Christmas movie, USS Christmas. Lilley revealed that she’ll be heading out to film the new Christmas movie on Tuesday September 8 in Charleston, South Carolina. She expressed her excitement, “I’m going to cry, I’m so excited,” and shared that it would be close to her family in Virginia.

The movie will co-star Days of our Lives alum Trevor Donovan (Jeremy Horton) and will celebrate the United States Military, to which Lilley has a lot of military in her family. She will be playing a reporter, “somebody that you could relate to,” who writes a lot of serious storylines – but ultimately would rather write heartwarming stories. She goes on what is called a Tiger Cruise with the United States Navy. The Navy puts on the special event once a year where their families can come on the ship for Christmas. It’s on the Tiger Cruise where Lilley’s character meets a handsome fighter pilot – one who doesn’t like Christmas.

Lilley is excited to be working with a team that she’s already worked with and is happy to be rehired by the Hallmark Channel time and time again. “I want to be like Betty White. I don’t care about ever being an A-Lister. I just want to work until I’m like 105.”

Fans can expect to see almost 40 new premieres for this year’s Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas event, so stay tuned for all of the movie titles and schedules to come, featuring various past and present soap opera stars. And don’t forget, this weekend Hallmark airs the final new premiere in its Summer Nights special, Wedding Every Weekend.

Take a look back at Lilley’s 2019 Hallmark Christmas movie Angel Falls: A Novel Holiday in the gallery below then sign up for Soaps.com’s newsletter for more Hallmark news, plus everything soaps.