One of the best loved Christmas films of all time is making a comeback – kind of. The cast of the “ultimate romantic comedy” Love Actually is following in the footsteps of other cultural hits like Friends and Harry Potter by reuniting for a TV special, to celebrate 20 years since the film released. Love Actually released way back in 2003, and the sizeable cast are coming back to discuss how the film came to be, and why it’s had such staying power. The TV special is set to air on ABC on 29th November, and presumably a UK date will be announced soon.

This isn’t quite the first reunion that the film has had – five years ago, some of the cast and director Richard Curtis came together again for a Red Nose Day short called Red Nose Day Actually, as a kind of mini sequel. This cast reunion and retrospective will be hosted by ABC anchor Diane Sawyer, who’ll sit down and interview some of the most notable cast members like Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Laura Linney, Thomas Brodie Sangster and more – though it’s unknown whether Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson and Rowan Atkinson will be making any kind of appearance. Director and writer Curtis will also feature, as the cast and crew chat about how the film juggled the various storylines and an ensemble of some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

The film (in case you’d forgotten) focused on different aspects of love shown through 10 different stories and a diverse cast of individuals – like Billy Mack, Juliet, Mark, Harry, Karen and Grant’s David (aka the Prime Minister). As well as featuring huge names like Neeson and Thompson, it also helped propel the careers of Knightley, Sangster, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Andrew Lincoln to become household names. The trailer for the reunion (titled The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later) shows a few of the cast members taking their seats to discuss all things love (actually) – with Hugh Grant dryly quipping that “love actually is… dead” – before reminiscing about his famous dance around number 10.

The special will be an hour long – that’s 60 minutes of Love Actually goodness – and will share secrets and behind the scenes nuggets of some of the film’s most iconic scenes, as well as touching on how the pandemic changed and refocused the ways we connect and express love, even in difficult times and when we’re separated. The reunion will air in the USA on 29th November at 8:00 EST time on ABC – and will be available on Hulu the next day, so it’s fairly likely that, like other Hulu content, it’ll be available on Disney+ in the UK.

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