Jennifer Nettles, Ricky Schroder will return for the new film.
After Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors attracted nearly 16 million viewers during its first telecast last December on NBC — well, you pretty much knew there would be a sequel, right?
And now it’s official: Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, a follow-up to the TV-movie inspired by Parton’s enduringly popular 1971 song, is gearing up production for a prime-time premiere later this year.
“It’s no secret that everyone loves Dolly Parton,” NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a prepared statement. “And the response to our first movie was overwhelming, both in terms of the size of the audience and outpouring of love for a film with family values and faith.
“So it felt like a no-brainer to bring this talented cast back together and tell another compelling holiday story culled from Dolly’s own life growing up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Her spirit and belief in God — and her music — will infuse this movie with the true spirit of Dolly Parton.”
Like the first film, Christmas of Many Colors isn’t a conventional Dolly Parton biopic, but rather a family-oriented, faith-based drama about incidents in her and her family’s life during Parton’s childhood. In the sequel, an unexpected blizzard threatens the Parton family, just as Dolly’s father and his children are making sacrifices to raise enough money to buy Dolly’s mom a very special gift. Meanwhile, an important person in little Dolly’s life recognizes that her amazing voice and musical talents might be gifts meant to share far from rural Tennessee.
The original cast will return for the sequel: Jennifer Nettles as Avie Lee Parton, Ricky Schroder as Robert Lee Parton, Gerald McRaney as Rev. Jake Owens and Alyvia Alyn Lind as young Dolly. Stephen Herek, who directed the original film, and screenwriter Pamela K. Long also are back on board for the new film.
And Dolly Parton herself will once again play an active role in the production.
“I was so overwhelmed and touched by how many people watched Coat of Many Colors and their reaction to it,” Parton said. “The song ‘Coat of Many Colors,’ of course, has always been my favorite and has touched so many people through the years, especially me. It is a true story from a very special time in my childhood. I am so happy to share this story with the viewers, and to say there is so much more to tell, because mine truly has been a life of many colors. I hope the viewers will fall in love all over again.”
Photography courtesy of Webster Public Relations.
