Jonathan Bennett and Robert Buckley Start a Brotherly Rivalry in Hallmark's 'Christmas House 2' (Exclusive)

It's brother versus brother on Hallmark Channel!

Robert Buckley and Jonathan Bennett return as the Mitchell siblings in Hallmark's sequel to last year's holiday film, The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls, and only ET exclusively premieres a very festive sneak peek. The follow-up centers on the Mitchell brothers as they compete to create the best Christmas house. 

In ET's exclusive clip, Buckley's Mike explains to a television producer that growing up with Bennett's Brandon was always an adventure, and his personality was partially shaped because of his brother's antics. "Maybe I wouldn't be so tight if you weren't so chaotic," Mike tells Brandon, revealing that his brother would steal everyone's bedding in the middle of the night. 

Brandon, meanwhile, defends his childhood shenanigans, telling Mike it's due to his sleepwalking: "And I grew out of it!" 

Their good-natured banter inspires a genius idea: Why don't the brothers go head to head for a brother versus brother-type holiday renovation show?

"Isn't the whole point to have two stars going head to head?" asks Mike, who's an actor by the way, not entirely sold on the spontaneous pitch. But his worries are largely ignored because as it's explained to him, "This is better! .... And think about it, everyone loves a rivalry between brothers! Cain and Abel. Scar and Mufasa. Matt and Ben!"

"They're not brothers," Mike politely reminds the producer regarding Damon and Affleck, who brushes it off by saying, "They might as well be."

Bennett, who guest co-hosts ET on Friday's show, told Nischelle Turner that returning for Christmas House 2 has been a real treat.

"America fell in love with the Mitchell family on Hallmark Channel and to come back with the entire cast, [who] is just so wonderful -- we have such great chemistry -- and to get to play these characters again and really tell their stories a little deeper and also have a little more humor in this movie. This movie is twice the humor and twice the heart as the first one," Bennett previews the Hallmark sequel.

"The reason that Hallmark Channel movies have such a great response is because they're not movies about gay or straight, they're just movies about love, family and people," he says in discussing The Christmas House franchise. "It's not about being gay or being straight when they come home for the holidays, it's just a modern family in 2021 coming home for the holidays. And it's about the love in the family and the unconditional love that the family has for each other. When the audience sees that, they identify with themselves in the Mitchell family and I think that's why America has fallen in love with the Mitchell family and why Hallmark decided to bring it back for a second one."

The film also stars Ana Ayora, Treat Williams, Sharon Lawrence, Brad Harder, Teryl Rothery and Mattia Castrillo.

The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls premieres Saturday, Dec. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel. For more, watch below.

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