Once again: Candace Cameron Bure, if you’re reading, turn back now! You’re not going to be happy about this…
After dipping its toes in the sparkling gay water these past few years, The Hallmark Channel is finally delivering The Holiday Sitter, its first-ever holiday movie with LGBTQ+ characters in the lead roles.
The network’s been laying the groundwork for this the past few years, especially with The Christmas House (’20), and its sequel (’21)—ensemble family films that prominently feature a gay couple, played by Jonathan Bennett and Brad Harder.
Related: Jonathan Bennett used to be trapped in the closet, now he’s living the gay dream
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Now, Bennett—a.k.a. Mean Girls‘ dreamy Aaron Samuels—is taking the spotlight in The Holiday Sitter, a Christmas movie based on a story he came up with. Bennett stars as Sam, a bachelor all ready to jet off on a Hawaiian holiday vacation when he gets an urgent call from his sister to come help watch her two kids while she’s away.
Sam accepts, reluctantly, and quickly finds himself overwhelmed by his niece and nephew’s boundless energy. Enter: The dreamboat of a next door neighbor, Jason (George Krissa), who just so happens to be great with the kids—as well as single and gay.
Sparks fly and, well, you know where this is going, right? These Hallmark holiday movies certainly have a formula, but there’s something undeniably special about the fact that this one just so happens to be about two gay men. The nonchalance of it all is refreshing in its own right!
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bennett said the film was inspired by his love of the ’80s comedy classic Uncle Buck starring John Candy, which similarly finds an uncle out of his depth when he’s suddenly left to care for his nieces and nephew.
Related: Candace Cameron Bure to launch crappy new TV channel that tells stories of “traditional” marriage
And EW also couldn’t resist asking Bennett about the aforementioned Bure—a former Hallmark star herself, who has since defected to the Great American Family channel, which she controversially stated will keep “traditional marriage at the core.” When asked how Bure’s statement made him feel, Bennett responded cordially:
“Well, I can only speak to my experience,” he said. “I’m so proud to be part of Hallmark Channel because of the inclusive storytelling they’re doing for the LGBTQ+ community with movies like The Holiday Sitter. It feels so good to have a place at the holiday table because The Holiday Sitter is for everyone, and Christmas is for everyone, Hallmark Channel is for everyone. It feels good to see stories that look like mine on screen.”
The Holiday Sitter premieres this Sunday, December 11, on The Hallmark Channel. You can watch the trailer below:
And, no, we can’t just let you go about your day without alerting you to the fact that Bennett’s co-star, George Krissa, is packing a whole lot of muscle underneath those cable-knit sweaters.
Krissa is a Canadian actor, musician, and classically trained singer. He’s appeared in a handful of TV and film roles, including Lifetime’s Trapped With My Husband, but made his Hallmark debut just a few months ago in Road Trip Romance.
The Holiday Sitter certainly marks Krissa’s step up into the Hallmark movie big leagues, and we imagine we’ll be seeing a lot more of him on the network and beyond in the future. We’ll share a few photos below to prove to you why Krissa is well worth a follow:
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Neoprene
Have a very merry marginalized Christmas and a happy victimhood New Year, everyone!
Bromancer7
Seriously, WTF is wrong with you?
Steve9999
Is “The Whale” based on your life? Idiot.
dbmcvey
Like you actually care about gay victims.
Tad
Happy to see two gay lead characters in ANY film, much less the Hallmark channel, but to call this an inclusive product is a bit much. It’s still two gorgeous, pumped, preppy and ripped cis-guys and hardly stretches the audience perceptions of the real diversity of the LGBTQ community. But it’s Hallmark, so cutesy is as cutesy does and we should all just take it for what it it, holiday fluff to make us forget the realities of life for a good 90 minutes. And for many, that’s enough, right?
Diplomat
It’s inclusive for Hallmark.