The Big Picture

The Hallmark film showcases modern family dynamics and unconventional parenting structures.
The actors discuss the growth of Hallmark, adding reality shows and scripted series, and their franchise’s potential.
The film explores the concept of collective fatherhood and the importance of a village in raising children.

Brothers Luke, Taylor, and Stephan are back. In the sequel to Three Wise Men and a Baby, the brothers return in Hallmark’sThree Wiser Men and a Boy, and this time around, their mission is to help Luke’s son Thomas with a school musical after the director quits. Shaking up the chaos of the holidays, they deal with mom Barbara’s new boyfriend, as family dynamics make an unexpected and unwelcome shift. Collider spoke with actors Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell, and Tyler Hynes about reprising their roles, and how rare it is to return for a sequel on the network. They also dished on Hallmark’s growth by adding in scripted series and reality shows this Christmas season, and how their franchise can be the next big thing in reality.

‘Three Wiser Men and a Boy’ Shows What a Village Looks Like
The movie shows how modern families look through unconventional parenting structures.

COLLIDER: So congratulations on Three Wiser Men and a Boy. Andrew, I’ll start with you. This is the sequel to Three Wise Men and a Baby . What about the film do you think made it desirable for a return and an update on where you guys are?

ANDREW WALKER: I think people seem to like the first one, so I think we had that at least going for us, so. You know, maybe numbers will drop off once they watch 30 minutes of it. Or maybe they won’t. Maybe we’ll start getting more viewers for this one. People liked the first one. There were already some teasers that had been put out there in the world that shows that we’re kind of doing a little bit of what we did in the first one. But the beauty of this is that we have a chance to elevate and to rise up to the occasion and give people something better and top that first one. It’s tough writing a sequel. This guy had a – him and Kimberly – had a really big mountain to climb in this one.

PAUL CAMPBELL: It was super ambitious.

WALKER: It’s a very ambitious Christmas movie as well

TYLER HYNES: There’s laser tag. And spandex candy cane suits. The budget was through the roof.

WALKER: Arcade dancing

HYNES: Arcade dancing

CAMPBELL: Kids, children.

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COLLIDER: It wouldn’t be Christmas without the children.

HYNES: You gotta water them.

CAMPBELL: You gotta water them, you gotta feed them…You’re thinking about plants.

COLLIDER: Well, Paul. So, the story picks up 5 years later. So obviously, the baby is no longer a baby. He’s a boy, a growing boy. So tell us about the dynamics of your fatherhood, collective fatherhood situation. And how things have changed.

HYNES: I like that, collective fatherhood.

CAMPBELL: Oh, that’s a great question.

COLLIDER: I mean, it takes a village.

HYNES: Yeah, it does.

CAMPBELL: Well, it does. That’s sort of one of the things we’re celebrating in this film is how much of a village it actually does take or how much the village can help. When we were writing this and the original thought was that in order for this story to make sense and to have space to have new emotional journeys for these guys, we have to have given some time from the original movie, so 5 years later, but the worry is you’re putting a lot of weight on this kid whose now 6 years old, this actor to come in and to be able to carry scenes with you, and can you, you know, how much, how much do you give this young child actor in this movie? And the Miles that ended up being cast in this movie is extraordinary.

WALKER: AKA a young Brando.

CAMPBELL: He’s a little Brando’s he’s just this magic magical little boy. And I think as brothers, we have all contributed in shaping him. What we tried to write into this movie was we all have a unique relationship with him and you can see Luke as a dad and how good a dad is in this movie, but we wrote scenes specifically where we have Taylor sort of taking the baton in a tough moment where there’s a tough conversation with this kid about self-esteem and am I good enough? And typically that would be mom or dad that would go, ‘Let me talk to you about this.’ But in that moment, Uncle Taylor says, ‘I got this. I have a unique perspective.’ And I think we were trying to show that it does take a village and you can have different perspectives that children respond to and sometimes it’s OK when Uncle Taylor takes over to have a hard conversation. I think we find that as parents in our own lives. Often it is an aunt or an uncle that really connects with the child in a way that a parent can’t, and it was fun to explore that a little bit.

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WALKER: It’s OK to accept the help.

COLLIDER: Yes, and sometimes as a parent you need that break like, ‘Go ask your aunt.’

HYNES: As a parent, I relate.

WALKER: Are you a parent?

COLLIDER: I have a 15-month-old, but I also have a 15-year-old bonus daughter, and I’m just like, ‘Oh, go ask my mom. I don’t want to get involved. I can’t answer that question for you.’ So I definitely understand the whole idea of having a village, especially as they grow because. Now Tyler, this story is already interesting because you guys have a unique familial dynamic. Now one of the things I love in the movie is that you guys’ mom comes in and just shakes things up even more and you guys have to figure out what to do about some news that she spills. How does that add to the already chaotic situation that you guys are in?

HYNES: I mean Pastor Roy just coming in and messing it all up. We’re grown men. Mom’s got a new boyfriend. This is fun, you know what I mean, this is a fun premise from the outset, so I think Paul and Kim bringing in this element into this movie was a really fun way to have your cake and eat it too. We had we had so much fun evolving the characters and sort of devolving them at the same time.

CAMPBELL: We spend the first act of this movie with everyone under the impression that life could not be better. We’re all on top of the mountain and Pastor Roy coming in as the trip wire for all [of us] and everything else. For all of the emotional journeys and for everything that begins to fall apart and all the questions we have. We were talking about this earlier, this idea that mom’s house has always been the safe space for these boys to come back together and feel, you know, at home and then suddenly there’s a new man in the house and that safe space is no longer safe and what happens when you don’t feel safe anywhere, right? And that sort os sends us all in these various directions. The Pastor Roy was great because it gave us a different man to play off.

WALKER: And it’s interesting because we all break apart and find that safety in other things. Thomas is my safety and my home life is my safety. Your safety was Fiona. Yours is Aaron.

ALL: You’re my safety.

The Men of ‘Three Wiser Men and a Boy’ are Excited About the All-New Hallmark
With unscripted shows, the actors say Hallmark is having a renaissance that they’re proud to be part of.

COLLIDER: So A lot is going on with Hallmark this year, outside of this amazing sequel that we have, the network has this foray into reality television. We have some Christmas series for the first time. How does it feel to watch this change and expansion and to potentially be a part of it in the future?

HYNES: It feels good, potentially? What are we getting fired?

COLLIDER: No, you might have a reality show – Three men and your baby, your boy..can spin that into. There’s possibilities.

HYNES: Where we just raise children?

CAMPBELL: No, that’s just called reality.

WALKER: Tyler raising other people’s kids.

COLLIDER: During the holidays, give the parents a break.

CAMBPELL: We can do a reality show where do parenting. We go in and we go in and teach people how to parent.

HYNES: It sounds like a bad idea.

CAMPELL: It’s called “The Mannies.”

WALKER: It’s like Queer Eye but we’re the three guys that have to come in and fix it up. Fix the family.

CAMPBELL: Straight Eye?

HYNES: It feels great [to be part of the expansion]. I feel like we have a lot of new people too, and there’s there’s there’s an appetite from our audience that’s saying we want something different, but we want the same feeling and that’s a big task and we’re all trying to achieve that thing.

WALKER: You’re talking to guys that have been part of this network for a long time. I think it’s just all of a sudden, here we are in this moment, and they’re having a moment, Hallmark, and we’ve been through a lot with them. And it is the most exciting time to be at the network right now. And we’re just, I speak for myself and just feel lucky and fortunate that I’m here still and being a part of it, being a part of something like this, like this really this celebration of 15 years of Countdown of Christmas and doing this bus tour that we just did and stopping in…

HYNES: It’s fun how it’s getting interactive with our audience as well and finding these opportunities, especially coming out of the pandemic to see people in person, to watch the reactions to these movies, these are fun things to to really sort of cap off, which is already lovely experience.

CAMPBELL: From a storytelling perspective, it feels like the sky is the limit. Hallmark has diversified so in terms of the types of stories. Three men leading a movie? It’s wonderful.

Three Wiser Men and a Boy can be streamed on Peacock. Watch the full video interview above and on our YouTube channel.

Three Wiser Men and a Boy Release Date November 23, 2024 Cast Paul Campbell , Tyler Hynes , Andrew W. Walker , Margaret Colin , Kimberley Sustad , Nicole Major , Felicia Simone Writers Paul Campbell , Kimberley Sustad Directors Terry Ingram Character(s) Stephan Brenner , Taylor Brenner , Luke Brenner , Barbara Brenner , Doctor , Sophie , Jones Expand

Stream on Peacock