Lifetime Is Bringing Back Sex Scenes ‘and More’ in 2024 Christmas Movie Written by Sarah Drew: ‘There’s More Steam This Year’

Lifetime is continuing to add spice to their eggnog.

In 2023, “A Cowboy Christmas Romance” became the first Christmas TV movie to feature a sex scene, written by Sarah Drew. This year, Drew wrote and executive produced another one of the network’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” movies — and it’s even sexier than the last.

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“A Carpenter Christmas Romance,” stars Mitchell Slaggert and Sasha Pieterse and plays with “the vibe of adding spicy to the sweet to the Christmas season,” she told Variety on Thursday at our annual Power of Women event in Los Angeles. “There’s more steam this year than last year, so get ready. Mitchell Slaggert, he’s shirtless. He’s also just absolutely perfect in this role… He has so much heart and so much charisma on screen. And Sasha Pieterse is amazing.”

Although TV Christmas movies are traditionally G-rated, Drew knows that the audience is there for a bit more. “I am that audience,” she said. “It’s been so exciting to see Lifetime really support a little new genre for the Christmas season.”

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 24: (L-R) Sarah Drew and Sasha Pieterse attend Variety's Power of Women at Mother Wolf on October 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Michael Kovac/Variety via Getty Images)
Sarah Drew and Sasha Pieterse attend Variety’s Power of Women, presented by Lifetime

Drew’s last Christmas movie featured an intense makeout scene, then cut to the morning. So, will viewers get an actual sex scene this time around?

“Yes… and more,” Pieterse teased. “It’s really spicy. I was shocked. It’s one of the reasons I took it. I was like, this is different, this is fun. This is something that I think a lot of people will enjoy, and it might surprise them a little bit. Christmas movies are so comforting and so fun, and I think we all watch them for a reason. But when there’s something different in there, it’s always exciting. We bring the spice, that’s for sure.”

The movie follows novelist Andrea, who heads to her family’s farmhouse to finish her latest book. While there, she rekindles things with her “ex-crush, Seth, an artisanal woodworker who’s helping rebuild the town after it was nearly destroyed by a fire.”

Drew added that since Christmas is for everyone, “we should make movies that are also for everyone that involve Christmas.”

“This one has a sort of spicy [element]. They used to have a thing, but he hurt her in the past and now they’re coming back together again. It’s them dealing with various different insecurities that they have that feel more adult,” she explained. “Look, I love hot cocoa, I love gingerbread, I love all the cozy feelings, but I want something to sink my teeth into also.”

“A Carpenter Christmas Romance” airs on Lifetime on December 21 at 8 p.m.

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