'Scandal' Alum Katie Lowes Teases New CBS Holiday Movie, 'Amazing' New Shows Premiering in 2022

Katie Lowes' upcoming holiday movie, Christmas Takes Flight, airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS

By

Published on December 17, 2021 01:15 PM

christmas take flight — Photo: Justine Yeung/ CBS

Katie Lowes has a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

Since wrapping up her seven-season run as Quinn Perkins on Scandal, the actress, 40, has continued to add roles she's passionate about to her résumé. And among those projects includes Christmas Takes Flight, a new CBS holiday film premiering this Sunday.

In Christmas Takes Flight, Lowes stars as pilot Jenny Beckett, who is determined to save her family-owned airline's annual holiday benefit for underserved children, which is on the brink of cancellation after CEO Matt Connor (Evan Williams) purchases the company. As Jenny recruits her local community to help keep the benefit alive, she ends up falling for Matt along the way.

A big part of what attracted Lowes to the project was her character Jenny, whom she deems a "badass."

"I don't know how she measures up to Christmas movie leading women. I have no idea. But in terms of all the parts I've gotten to play in my life, she's strong," Lowes tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She's a single mom. She runs a business. She's a pilot. I read that only 1 percent of pilots are women."

"I felt connected to her as a mom. I felt connected to her in running a business because I run a business. And I just felt like she is very loyal to her family, to her dad, her younger brother and to her family legacy," the star continues. "I just felt like she was cool as hell. I was like, 'I want to play a pilot.' I was like, 'I want to get in the cockpit. I want to press all the buttons. I want to celebrate Christmas.' "

Being a part of this film allowed Lowes to check off "all" of her bucket list items, including getting to film in Vancouver, Canada. But shooting a Christmas film in the middle of the summer naturally had its challenges.

"The hardest thing was pretending it was cold when it was 100 degrees and you're in wool coats, mittens, [a] scarf and a hat," she recalls. "It was July and they were having a massive heatwave in Vancouver. [Crew members] were rolling out thousands of dollars worth of fake snow and shoveling it and [putting] styrofoam along the streets with snow to make it look like it was really cold."

Like with all of Lowes' previous projects, Christmas Takes Flight had to meet certain criteria prior to her signing on.

"I felt like this script was so good. I felt like the part was so good. And that's how and why I always make all my decisions," she says. "Like, do I love the part? Do I think the writing is great? Do I think the group is great?"

Next up, Lowes will be reteaming with her former Scandal boss, Shonda Rhimes, for Netflix's Inventing Anna. The new miniseries is based on the real-life story of Anna Delvey (a.k.a. Anna Sorokin), a socialite who posed as a wealthy German heiress and was convicted after conning many out of money. Julia Garner plays Delvey.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

According to Lowes, there was no one better person to tell Delvey's story than Rhimes.

"This is an amazing story. So, just imagine what you do when you have an amazing true story met with the greatest writer ever," says Lowes, who plays Rachel in the series. "It is so freaking juicy. When I first read the scripts, it's like you can't watch it, ingest it, binge it fast enough. You guys are in for a freaking ride."

Lowes has another TV series set to premiere in the new year, How We Roll, and says she really hopes "people to tune into" the sitcom starring Pete Holmes, adding that it's "so good."

"It's a true story about a guy named Tom Smallwood, who got laid off from working in factories his whole life outside of Detroit, Michigan. And he's an incredible bowler," she teases. "I play his wife, Jen Smallwood. I talk him into going pro. And this is a true story!"

"This guy, Tom Smallwood, is a world champion bowler. And it is a hilarious family comedy," Lowes adds. "It really reminds me of an Everybody Loves Raymond, which [was] one of my favorite comedies growing up. I just think it's really what people need right now."

Christmas Takes Flight airs Sunday (8 p.m. ET) on CBS.