Netflix will release Guarding Stars, a Christmas romantic comedy adapted from Katherine Center’s 2022 novel The Bodyguard, on 18 November. The film was renamed to avoid confusion with the 1992 Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston film of the same title, and adds to Netflix’s slate of book adaptations with a Western and country-music flavour.

Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki lead the cast, with Andie MacDowell, Walker Hayes, Toby Sandeman, Noah LaLonde and CM Punk also appearing. The story follows a pragmatic bodyguard assigned to protect a charismatic action star during the holidays; Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum directs from a script by Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith, making this Center’s third screen adaptation.