Ian Harding Reveals The Classic Holiday Movie That Scarred Him For Life

When I log into Zoom to interview Ian Harding about his role in the new Hallmark+ series Holidazed, he joins frenetically from a rental home in Toronto. He carries his laptop with him while he looks for a charger, my view bouncing around found-footage-style like a scene from The Blair Witch Project. He has podcast equipment upstairs that he could set up if it helps, he offers. When I tell him he’s totally fine as is, he exhales, “Fantastic. I prefer not to go upstairs right now because I am secretly 80 years old. Like, oh, did I run a marathon yesterday? No, I went to the grocery store.”

In this moment, I know that not only are we going to get along just fine, but also… is that a little crush creeping in on me? Not an actionable kind of crush, of course (he’s happily married to the stunning and wildly talented Sophie Hart — wait, do I have a crush on her, too?), but the type of crush that comes from genuinely enjoying a person’s energy.

Ian Harding has incredible energy.

And if you’ve been following him since his days as Ezra Fitz on Pretty Little Liars, you’re going to love his latest chapter. Holidazed, Hallmark’s first-ever holiday series, follows six families from different backgrounds, cultures, and generations, all living on the same cul-de-sac, as they gather during the holiday season. Harding plays Josh Hill, a man driven by work who returns home and realizes that maybe there’s more to life.

Here’s what Harding had to say about the role, the one holiday tradition he’s avoiding like the plague, and even the possibility of reuniting with his PLL costar Lucy Hale for a rom-com.

Scary Mommy: How would you describe your character, Josh?

Ian Harding: He is a lovable go-getter. I think sometimes you have people very much in the hustle culture who are just insufferable, and though he can be… almost unaware of other people that are outside of his striving. Yet, he has come home for the holidays, and he very much loves his parents and has certain plans for them. [He] wants to do a couple of things before he makes a big career move. While he’s back home, he has a run-in with the law, and hilarity ensues, which maybe you wouldn’t think from getting court-mandated community service, but yes.

SM: Ha! I do love how many different holiday personality types the show captures. What’s yours?

IH: My holiday personality is probably a rushed one. I was just thinking about this because, up until very recently, I’d been living in LA for 15 years. It didn’t make sense for my whole family to come out to LA — we didn’t necessarily have the space for them — so we would go back to our family house in DC near where I grew up. We had our first experience hosting last year, and we’d only been home for three months, so we’re kind of like, ‘Oh yeah, we need to get a tree, don’t we?’

My experience is one of a deep love of the holiday and loving bringing family together … especially now that I have a young son.

SM: Are there any traditions you’re looking forward to starting with him this year?

IH: I think so that my parents could get a break, they started this tradition when we were younger of doing stockings and everything the night before — almost like a teaser to the presents. And I like the idea of doing that with him. Sort of like, ‘Oh, this is a little chocolate and a knick-knack,’ and things like that.

One tradition I actually kind of want to avoid is something we also did. I don’t know why my dad thought this was a good idea — a very intelligent man, a very cultured, artful man in many ways, responsible for encouraging me to be an actor. But we would watch A Christmas Carol… the George C. Scott one from the late ‘70s, early ‘80s, and it’s dark. It’s really grim and he’s a terrible person in it.

One year, I think we were like, ‘Can we please watch The Muppet Christmas Carol?’ And he was like, ‘All right, fine. If you don’t like art, sure,’ or whatever he said. I think we’re probably going to avoid that like the plague and just maybe stick with Hallmark Christmas movies or something.

SM: In Holidazed, there’s this adorable scene where Theo’s trying to describe an ornament to you by naming the little things that make life good. What would those things be for you?

IH: I’ve been so lucky to have lived in my early twenties that Hollywood dream life. Sure, there aren’t any Oscars on my mantle, but I went to LA, I had a hit TV show, went to these parties, traveled the world, shot some really cool stuff, met my heroes, and all of that felt awesome. But there was a little bit of that thing that was kind of intangible … something that was missing.

I realized that I could go deeper into that world of doing the hustle, or I could follow this instinct I had that maybe the most tangible, meaningful things in my life were elsewhere. And it ended up being back where I started. I know how Hallmark that sounds, but it was true — I got to come back to DC and have my family there. And I still get to travel the world playing make-believe for a living, which is amazing.

So, if I could put the most meaningful things in life into an ornament, there might be the drama mask in there. I also think it would be a piece of my son’s old moccasin shoe that he was wearing when he walked for the first time … Or, my wife and I got married in East LA, and then we had pancakes afterward, so a little thing of syrup. Then, being able to be home with my family as they age, so maybe a mini-walker — although it would probably insult my mom so much. Like, ‘Oh, because I’m old now, you POS.’

That’s probably what would be dangling from my meaning-of-life ornament.

SM: You’re going to be a big part of a lot of people’s holiday season between Holidazed and Our Little Secret with Lindsay Lohan on Netflix. Are you officially entering your rom-com hunk era?

IH: God, I hope so. I think what would be great is I ride this train out until people are like, ‘Oh, let’s get him out of here. We’re sick of this guy.’ Then I disappear for five years, and I come back haggard and have aged rapidly. That’s when I play the old oil tycoon and show up in all these gritty HBO dramas. They’re like, ‘I don’t want him in a Christmas movie. He’s terrifying to look at.’

SM: That’s the long game.

IH: Yeah, that’s the long game. But I think, just culturally, there’s a renewed interest in the rom-com. It can be done poorly, and it can be saccharine and schlocky, but I think people really love the idea of finding meaningful love and connection while also laughing really hard.

Reading Our Little Secret for the first time, I was reading scenes and audibly laughing by myself in my house. And there’s obviously also the romantic component. It was one of the only things that I finished and then immediately started reading again.

SM: Do we also feel a little bit like the infamous Santa hat boxer scene from PLL was, like, your origin story for this era?

IH: Geez, you have brought it back. I feel like you were just the lawyer that led me on like, ‘Oh, you’re safe here. Just kidding; answer this.’

I remember as we were shooting it, I’m like, ‘Is everybody else cool with this teacher being partially clothed with these children? What?’ Then, on top of that, I had to do the whole thing where Tyler [Blackburn] and Keegan [Allen] were just sort of naturally like these live Adonises — especially Keegan, that bastard. I think he was eating a piece of pizza, and I was just looking at his rippling six-pack, and I had just dehydrated myself for three days straight.

So, I have thankfully repressed that traumatic memory, but thank you for bringing it up. I imagine that probably some exec somewhere was like, ‘Oh wait, yeah, let’s just put him in Hallmark movies. Look at this. I’m so happy I’m rewatching this.’

SM: Now that I’ve primed you, did I read an interview where you referenced a Taylor Swift song? Are you a secret Swiftie? Because the world deserves to know that as well.

IH: Oh yeah, no. Let’s get to the hard-hitting news here.

SM: This is serious journalism, Ian.

IH: What I think is so cool about her is the fact that she’s been around for so long and has really experimented with her sound. Some albums have resonated with me, some haven’t, but some have been really important. I think it was Folklore, right, the one that was mainly acoustic? I can see the cover with her. It’s black and white. She’s in the woods. And I remember hearing ‘Invisible String’ and thinking, ‘I think she wrote this about me and my wife.’ I felt like, ‘Did I talk to Taylor Swift about this? How did she know?’

So yeah, there are some songs of hers that are on repeat or on my various favorites list. Did I go to the Eras tour? I did not. But also, because I have a baby. It was a baby at the time. Still a baby. What am I talking?

SM: That’s valid. And talking is hard. OK, one last question. You’re still close with your PLL co-stars. Hear me out: How about a Hallmark movie with all of you?

IH: Considering there are so many of the PLL alumni, if you will, that are doing Hallmark, I kind of love that idea. On Tuesday, I spoke with Lucy [Hale] because… she’s been so kind. She’s been helping me promote these projects.

What’s great is when you do something like Pretty Little Liars, and you’re all just in your twenties together and go through this life-changing event, which it was for all of us, you’re kind of connected to each other in that sense. So, she and I were immediately able to pick back up again. There was no small talk, no ‘Is it hot in DC right now?’ It was right back into the thick of it, and I feel that way with Torrey [DeVitto], too. I went to her wedding. Shay [Mitchell] and I talked two weeks ago because she was in Toronto for a hot second, and there was no small talk. It’s pretty amazing.

So, it feels like everybody’s kind of family — which I know that’s weird to say considering I made out with Lucy for seven years — but it’s been really great. I hope that we get to do something again. I’m like, ‘Do I pitch something to either Netflix or Hallmark for Lucy and I to do?’ I feel like that’d be fun.

SM: People would respond to it for sure.

IH: But what if it starts as one thing… Like, you think it’s going to be a holiday rom-com, and then halfway through, it’s a murder movie. We have to find the killer, and it just dashes people’s hopes.

SM: I still think it works, Ian. I do.

IH: Yeah. It’s got that certain je ne sais quoi.

Holidazed’s first two episodes premiere on Hallmark+ on Nov. 14, with new episodes every Thursday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.