After being one of many Hallmark stars to exit for GAF, Danica McKellar has slowly been settling into her new home. To help with her new surroundings, she is actually going to be surrounded by two familiar faces in an upcoming movie. And it almost sounds like the beginning of a punchline. What do Winnie Cooper, a Hallmark star and a DWTS pro have in common? They’re all the stars of Great American Family’s upcoming film Swing Into Romance as part of the network’s Autumn Harvest program event.
McKellar took to Instagram to share the news with her followers that Supernatural’s David Haydn-Jones, whom she starred alongside in 2016’s My Christmas Dream on Hallmark, and her mentor, friend, and Dancing with the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko will be her co-stars for the new GAF movie. From the looks of the photos and the video, the trio had a great time filming, as McKellar refers to it as “Art Camp” while filming in Canada since it was Dance Camp for her and Haydn-Jones and Acting Camp for Savchenko, as it is his acting debut:
It looks like the three had a fun time filming the movie, and it was probably even better that McKellar was able to film it with friends, reuniting with two people whom she hadn’t worked with in a while. Although Savchenko didn’t appear in Season 18 of DWTS when McKellar was on, that didn’t stop the two from still getting together, it seems like, and the video of them dancing is enough to get anyone to move their feet.
Per GAF, Swing Into Romance will follow Danica McKellar’s Christine Sims, a former dancer who returns to her hometown and just in time for the Fall Festival. After finding out her family’s General Store is in trouble, Christine has to not only dust off her dancing shoes, but she must do so with her ex-fiancé. And, of course, finally find true love. McKellar is also set to star in an upcoming Christmas movie on the network, meaning that the actress has all of her holiday bases covered for the remainder of the year.
Much like his co-star, David Haydn-Jones has starred in a number of Hallmark films, with his most recent being in 2021’s Five More Minutes. Starring in a movie on the network’s rival channel could mean that he is also making the switch, but it’s unknown if it will be a permanent thing. It is nice to see McKellar close to Hallmark stars, even if she's not on the network anymore. Aside from Hallmark, he may be best known as the British Men of Letters member you loved to hate, Arthur Ketch, (and later Alexander Ketch) on Supernatural for Seasons 12-15. His most recent role was in the film Good Side of Bad, which came out on June 22.
Meanwhile, Gleb Savchenko is obviously no stranger to dance, first appearing as a pro on Australia’s DWTS in Season 12 before making the jump to the U.S. version for Seasons 16 and 17. He returned for Season 24, and has been on the dancing series since. He was paired up with drag queen Shangela and the duo came in fourth place for Season 31, and as of now, and will return to the ballroom for Julianne Hough's hosting debut on Season 32.
A set premiere date has yet to be announced for Swing Into Romance, but McKellar did reveal that it is going to come out sometime this fall as part of the 2023 TV schedule. So make sure to break out the dancing shoes, because you are going to need them for this film.
