Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki are officially heading into the holiday rom-com world together with Netflix’s Guarding Stars, an adaptation inspired by Katherine Center’s 2022 romance novel The Bodyguard.
The movie is being directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, whose credits include Aquamarine, Netflix’s Purple Hearts and Ginny & Georgia. Rosenbaum directed two episodes of Ginny & Georgia Season 3, “Boom Goes the Dynamite” and “At Least It Can’t Get Any Worse.” Netflix also lists the series among her credits for Guarding Stars.
She also has history with Meester. Rosenbaum previously directed the Gossip Girl Season 2 episode “Carrnal Knowledge,” a Blair-heavy episode centered on her feud with teacher Rachel Carr.
And now we officially know when their latest collaboration will arrive.
Katherine Center announced on her social media account today, August 26, that Guarding Stars will hit Netflix on November 18, 2026. Netflix has also confirmed the November 18 global premiere, positioning the movie as a new holiday romance arriving just in time for the Christmas season.
The original novel follows Hannah Brooks, an Executive Protection Agent hired to protect Jack Stapleton, one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Jack has largely disappeared from public life following a family tragedy, but a stalker means he now needs professional protection.
Things get more complicated when Jack returns to his family’s Texas ranch after his mother becomes sick. He doesn’t want his family to know about the stalker or that he has a bodyguard, which means Hannah needs a cover story.
Their solution? Hannah pretends to be Jack’s girlfriend.
The arrangement puts Hannah directly into Jack’s family life while she is still trying to do her actual job and keep their relationship professional. The longer they spend together, the more difficult it becomes to tell where the fake relationship ends and their real feelings begin.
The novel plays with fake dating, forced proximity and celebrity romance while flipping the traditional bodyguard setup by making Hannah the person responsible for protecting Jack.
But Netflix is making one noticeable change to the story for Guarding Stars: the romance is moving into the holiday season.
The Bodyguard itself is not a Christmas romance. The book takes Hannah into Jack’s family world in Texas, but the holidays are not the backdrop for their relationship. The novel was actually promoted as a summer read when it was released.
For Guarding Stars, Hannah is instead assigned to protect Jack over the holidays, taking the central romance from Center’s novel and placing it against a Christmas backdrop. Netflix’s official description teases that sparks fly and secrets unravel as Christmas makes their situation even more complicated.
That change makes the November release especially fitting. Rather than adapting The Bodyguard as another contemporary romance, Netflix is reshaping Hannah and Jack’s story into a holiday rom-com.
Rosenbaum has also spoken about what drew her to the adaptation, including the enthusiasm surrounding Center’s book and the opportunity to bring the story into the holiday season. Netflix notes that she had been paying attention to the response to the novel before signing on to direct.
Meester will play Hannah opposite Padalecki as Jack. The supporting cast includes Andie MacDowell, My Life with the Walter Boys star Noah LaLonde, Walker Hayes, Toby Sandeman, Rachael Ancheril, Phil Brooks, Ava Max and Shaun Johnston. Netflix also notes that the film marks Hayes’ acting debut.
Behind the camera, Rosenbaum is working from a screenplay credited to Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith along with Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo. Matthews and Scharbo are also producing, while Jared and Genevieve Padalecki are among the movie’s producers.
For Gossip Girl fans, Rosenbaum and Meester working together again gives the movie another fun connection.
While discussing Guarding Stars, Rosenbaum referenced their Gossip Girl history and joked that there was something particularly fun about putting “Blair Waldorf” in combat boots.
It is certainly a different kind of role for Meester. Instead of playing the impeccably dressed Upper East Sider she became famous for, she is now playing the person responsible for keeping the leading man safe.
Between Meester and Padalecki leading the romance, Center’s story providing the foundation and Rosenbaum shifting the adaptation into the holidays, Guarding Stars is shaping up to be one of Netflix’s notable new holiday rom-coms this year.
And Rosenbaum’s involvement makes this an especially interesting combination of some very different corners of TV and film. She has worked on Gossip Girl, directed the 2006 teen favorite Aquamarine, helmed Netflix’s hugely popular romance Purple Hearts and more recently directed episodes of Ginny & Georgia. Now she is bringing all of that experience to a female-bodyguard romance with a new Christmas setting.
Guarding Stars premieres globally on Netflix November 18, 2026.
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