Netflix is adapting Katherine Center’s bestselling novel The Bodyguard into a romantic comedy, and it has found its leads: Jared Padalecki and Leighton Meester.
The project marks Padalecki’s first feature film role in over a decade and his first Netflix original movie, while Meester returns to the rom-com spotlight after recent TV and film work.
A New Spin on the Bestseller
In The Bodyguard, Padalecki will play a movie star facing a dangerous stalker. To keep him safe, a professional bodyguard (Meester) is assigned to his security detail. When he decides to visit his family for the holidays, he convinces her to pretend to be his girlfriend, hoping to calm his family’s worries without revealing the threats he’s facing.
The Netflix adaptation will make one key change from the novel: the setting will move from a Texas ranch to Montana, giving the story a fresh backdrop while maintaining its cozy holiday feel.
Creative Team Behind the Film
The film is directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, who previously helmed Netflix’s Purple Hearts and Disney’s Sneakerella. The screenplay comes from Grant Scharbo, Richard Keith, and Erin Cardillo, blending romantic tension with holiday warmth and light comedic beats.
A Big Screen Return for Jared Padalecki
For Padalecki, best known for Supernatural, Walker, and Gilmore Girls, this project marks a rare return to movies. His last live-action film appearance was in the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th. Since then, he’s focused almost exclusively on television, most recently leading The CW’s Walker for four seasons.
The casting pairs him with Leighton Meester, beloved for her role as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl and more recently seen in Netflix’s The Weekend Away, Nobody Wants This, and How I Met Your Father. The combination brings together two actors with passionate fan bases and proven romantic-comedy chops.
Not Connected to the Whitney Houston Film
Despite sharing a title and some surface similarities, this Netflix project is not related to the 1992 film The Bodyguard starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. The upcoming movie adapts Katherine Center’s 2022 novel, a light romantic comedy that was a New York Times bestseller and named one of the funniest books of its release year by publications like The Washington Post.
Holiday Timing Seems Likely
Production is set to begin in Canada this December, with Netflix yet to announce a release date. Given the story’s holiday setting and the streamer’s history of launching romantic comedies in its end-of-year lineup, it’s reasonable to expect The Bodyguard to arrive as part of Netflix’s 2026 holiday movie slate.
Key Details — The Bodyguard (Netflix)
- Release date: TBA (filming begins December 2025 in Canada; likely holiday 2026)
- Format: Romantic comedy feature film
- Based on: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (2022)
- Main cast: Jared Padalecki, Leighton Meester
- Director: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
- Writers: Grant Scharbo, Richard Keith, Erin Cardillo
- Setting: Adaptation moves from Texas (in the book) to Montana (in the film)
