Kristin Cavallari to Lead Roku Rom-Com Cowboy Hearts
Kristin Cavallari will lead Cowboy Hearts, a romantic comedy film for Roku. The casting was reported by Deadline on 15 September 2026.
Roku, the streaming service known for its players and its free streaming channel, will be the film's home. A romantic comedy, a love story told with humour, is a new lane for Cavallari as a lead actor.
She plays a no-nonsense reality TV producer sent to Georgia to oversee the reboot of a dating show called Cowboy Hearts. A reboot means a fresh version of an older programme. She stars opposite Tanner Novlan as the cowboy.
Novlan is familiar to daytime viewers for The Bold and the Beautiful, the long-running American soap opera. He takes the romantic lead. The story pairs the producer and the cowboy in Georgia.
It is her first acting role not playing herself in 15 years. Her last character part was an episode of the family comedy The Middle. More recently she appeared as herself in an episode of ABC's 9-1-1: Nashville.
The film reunites her with Roku after The Reunion: Laguna Beach. That unscripted special, television built around real people rather than a script, was Roku's biggest unscripted launch ever, according to Deadline.
Behind the camera, Traci Hays directs from a script by Paris Herbert-Taylor. The senior team guiding the production, the executive producers, are Ashley Squires, Jessica Bahowich, Larry Grimaldi, Hannah Pillemer and Fernando Szew. They oversee the film creatively and financially.
Cowboy Hearts comes from Fox Entertainment Studios, the production arm of Fox. It is the first Fox-produced project for Roku since Fox acquired Roku, as reported by Deadline. It is scheduled to premiere next year, with no exact date announced yet.
Away from the set, Cavallari continues to host her "Let's Be Honest" podcast under a multi-year, seven-figure deal with Dear Media, reported by Variety in October 2025. She signed with talent agency CAA for representation in 2023, reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
For fans, this means a change of gear. She has spent recent years on screen as herself. Now she plays someone else entirely.
