Jonathan Bennett Sees Franchise Potential In ‘A Keller Christmas Vacation’: “I Would Love for the Kellers to Become the Griswolds of Hallmark”

For Jonathan Bennett, Brandon Routh, and Eden Sher, capturing the familial chemistry of playing siblings onscreen in A Keller Christmas Vacation was pretty instantaneous. In fact, Sher credited Bennett, who has become a Hallmark mainstay, for making the process so seamless.

“Jonathan does such an incredible job at establishing a tone for a work environment,” she gushed. “I think it makes it almost, near impossible to not have chemistry with every single person that you’re with.”

Routh echoed Sher’s sentiments, claiming that “it felt like a family before [they] began” shooting. However, according to Bennett, it was only a matter of time before he and Routh played brothers, as he recalled that they were often mistaken for each other early on in their acting careers because they “looked so similar.”

As for Sher, Bennett said the idea for The Middle alum to be cast as the youngest Keller sibling was Hallmark’s idea, one he deemed “a no-brainer.”

“I just think the trio of the talent in this group is so diverse and funny and it came together,” he explained.

The new Christmas film, which premieres on Hallmark Channel tonight, sees siblings Cal (Routh), Dylan (Bennett), and Emory (Sher) join their parents on a holiday river cruise down the Danube, pulling themselves away from the chaois going on in their own respective lives for some merry, maritime mayhem.

The title alone may draw comparisons to another holiday comedy, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. When asked if they drew any inspiration from other holiday movies or channel any of their favorites into making A Keller Christmas Vacation, Routh couldn’t name any specific films, but noted that “sometimes that stuff just percolates up through the rolodex”—or as he later teased, “the AI”— of films he’s watched.

“A similar situation might come up and I can look at it later and go, ‘Oh, I probably  stole that from this movie or this actor. That’s where that came from.’ Really it was knowing of those movies and just the kind of movie that I would want to watch, which is more of a fun, exciting, everybody kind of upset with each other but still loves each other kind of vibe,” he said.

Routh enjoyed being “a third of that engine” with his two co-stars, eager to “see what they were going to bring to it to create new, fun, authentic moments.”

According to Sher, director Maclain Nelson, who she said “has a really good handle on Christmas as a concept and what makes a good family Christmas experience, as well as the “profoundly Christmassy” locales they shot A Keller Christmas Vacation in—which included Salzburg, Vienna, and Bulgaria—allowed her and her co-stars to simply “bring the romp.”

“Let’s bring the camp and the goofiness to it,” she added. “We didn’t need to push the Christmas of it because the Christmas was everywhere.”

As Bennett pointed out, the Griswold siblings “don’t get along.” The Keller siblings also have their differences and are constantly ribbing each other with relatable sibling banter, an element that Bennett believes allows Hallmark to slightly flip the script on its typical holiday fare.

“I think what’s so good about A Keller Christmas Vacation is it fits every trope of a Hallmark movie, but it also does it differently. You don’t see in Hallmark movies where the siblings are at each other’s throats the whole time. But what I think is so refreshing about this is it’s real,” he shared. “So many people are going to watch this because I based this on my own family, which is highly dysfunctional. But I think there’s a layer of that to every family across the country. There’s some sort of dysfunction in every family.”

Hallmark has delved further into ensemble-led film franchises recently, with the success of the three-part Groomsmen series, led by Bennett, B.J. Britt and Tyler Hynes. In terms of the network’s holiday slate, the upcoming Three Wisest Men, starring Hynes, Andrew Walker, and Paul Campbell, will round out a trilogy preceded by 2022’s Three Wise Men and a Baby and 2024’s Three Wiser Men and a Boy. Plus, Haul Out the Halloween, a extension of the Haul Out the Holly film series fit for spooky season, premiered earlier this fall.

So, could we see more of the Kellers in the future?

“I think the Kellers need to go to Australia for Easter,” Sher quipped.

Bennett replied, “You know, they always say Australian Easter vacation.”

In all seriousness, Bennett said he “would love to bring the Keller family back and do either different holidays or different Christmas experiences.”

“I think we have lightning in a bottle with Brandon, Eden, and myself together, and I think it’d be a shame to not let that lightning out of the bottle more,” he explained, before adding with a wink, “I would love for the Kellers to become the Griswolds of Hallmark.”

“The nicer version of the family, yeah,” Routh clarified. “Slightly softer.”

Sher exclaimed, “Put it out there! Put it out there!”

As for when and where, Bennett posited, “A Keller Summer Vacation?”

Routh teased, “Just don’t go to the beach.”

How To Watch A Keller Christmas Vacation

The only way to watch Hallmark Channel live without cable is by using a live TV streaming service. We recommend DIRECTV, which comes with a five-day free trial before payment begins.

DIRECTV offers a number of flexible subscription options, including Genre Packs, so you can best choose which streaming plans fit your needs and budget. Plans start at $49.99/month.

A Keller Christmas Vacation premieres on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 8/7 c on Hallmark Channel.