Netflix Sets November Release for Guarding Stars, Starring Leighton Meester and CM Punk
Netflix has set a release date of 18 November 2026 for Guarding Stars, its holiday romance adaptation of Katherine Center's novel The Bodyguard, according to Deadline. Collider first reported the date.
The film follows a bodyguard assigned to protect a charming action star over the holidays, as described in Netflix's own Tudum newsroom. Leighton Meester leads the cast, joined by Andie MacDowell, Walker Hayes, Toby Sandeman, Noah LaLonde, and CM Punk — the WWE wrestler turned actor whose casting was reported by Deadline in December 2025.
The title change from The Bodyguard to Guarding Stars was a practical one: the 1992 Warner Bros. film The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, already owns that name. Center's novel, published by St. Martin's Press in July 2022, stands as a separate property entirely.
Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum directs from a script by Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith. Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo produce through their Little Engine Productions banner, alongside Jared and Genevieve Padalecki for Living in the Asterisk. The producing credits place the film squarely in Netflix's growing lane of book-to-screen romance — a corridor the streamer has worked hard, and profitably, across its 2026 slate, which also includes War Machine, set for 6 March 2026.
For Center, this is the third of her novels to reach the screen, following Happiness for Beginners and The Lost Husband. That is a notable track record for any author, and a signal of how reliably her blend of romance and emotional comedy translates to the streaming audience. Netflix listed Guarding Stars among its 2026 holiday and romance titles as far back as January, per Deadline, though a specific date eluded the streamer's own Tudum articles until now.
The 18 November slot places Guarding Stars ahead of the US Thanksgiving corridor — the window when holiday viewing habits begin to shift from cinema-going to couch-bound streaming. That is not accidental. Netflix has consistently used the pre-holiday stretch to launch its marquee romance and family titles, betting that audiences already in a seasonal mood will click on something warm.
With Meester returning to a leading role in a Netflix romance, a cast that mixes established names with attention-grabbing additions like CM Punk, and a release date timed to the holiday corridor, Guarding Stars now has all its pieces on the board. The film lands on 18 November 2026.
