Heavy/Hallmark Paul Campbell, Andrew Walker and Tyler Hynes star in Hallmark's "Three Wise Men and a Baby"
In an apparent case of life imitating art, the viral news story of a Florida firefighter who adopted a baby left at his fire station during the holidays caught the attention of Hallmark star Andrew Walker, who played a firefighter in an eerily similar storyline for 2022’s wildly popular movie “Three Wise Men and a Baby.”
On June 24, 2023, Walker shared a screenshot in his Instagram Stories of an article from “The Today Show” about the touching adoption story. Over the image, he wrote, “Hmmm, sounds familiar. @paulcampbellofficial @tyler_hynes #3wisemenandababy”
Fans have been clamoring for a sequel to the “Three Wise Men” movie, and this latest development may only fuel their desire to see Walker’s firefighter character and his on-screen brothers back together.
Firefighter Discovered Baby at Station Overnight, Just Like Andrew Walker’s ‘Three Wise Men’ Character
HallmarkAndrew Walker stars as a firefighter who has to take care of a baby in “Three Wisemen and a Baby”
In “Three Wise Men and a Baby,” which became the most-watched cable movie of 2022, Walker plays bachelor firefighter Luke Brenner who, while working the overnight shift during the holidays at his fire station, discovers a baby left in a car seat with a note specifically for him from the baby’s unidentified mother.
“I had no one else to turn to,” the note reads. “Please take care of Thomas for me. I’ll be back by Christmas, I promise.”
Rather than take the baby to child protective services, his character’s mom, played by Margaret Colin, convinces Luke and his brothers, played by Paul Campbell and Tyler Hynes, to watch the infant for several days and see if the mother returns as promised. The comedy then chronicles the brothers bonding as they amusingly learn to care for baby Thomas, falling in love with him in the process.
Once the baby’s single mom returns, she reveals that firefighter Luke had been first on the scene when she was alone and in labor. In true Hallmark fashion, the two fall for each other and, in the movie’s last scene, are shown cohabiting in his newly-built home while raising Thomas together.
“Three Wise Men and a Baby” premiered on Hallmark Channel on November 19 and instantly became a huge hit. Weeks later, as first reported by WKMG-TV in Orlando, a similar scenario to its plot line played out in real-life when a newborn baby was left overnight at the fire station in Ocala, Florida.
Now named Zoey, the baby girl was left inside a Safe Haven Baby Box, which is a temperature-controlled box installed at nearly 150 fire stations across the U.S. where desperate parents can anonymously place babies they can no longer care for, no questions asked. According to USA Today, 23 abandoned babies have been rescued through the program since 2017.
At 2 a.m. on January 2, an alarm went off at the station in Ocala to signal that a baby had been placed inside the box — the only one that exists in Florida. The firefighter who quickly responded — and has asked to remain anonymous for his family’s privacy — discovered a baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket with a pink bottle next to her. He and his wife, he told USA Today, had been trying to have a child for a decade, so he instantly hoped the baby could be theirs.
The firefighter took the baby to the hospital, as is protocol according to “The Today Show,” and left a note with the baby, describing what had happened and why he and his wife would love a chance to adopt the little girl. Since they had previously filled out all of the paperwork necessary to become adoptive parents, they had Zoey in their arms two days later and have since adopted her.
“Everybody was just in disbelief, honestly, that she was hand-delivered to us, basically,” his wife told WKMG off-camera.
At a press conference in early January, Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder Monica Kelsey directly addressed the parent who left Zoey at the fire station, according to TODAY.
She said, “Thank you for keeping your child safe. Thank you for bringing your child to a place that you knew was going to take care of this child. And thank you for doing what you felt was best.”
Fans Clamoring for Sequel or Follow-Up to ‘Three Wise Men and a Baby’
Hallmark fans loved “Three Wise Men and a Baby” so much that calls for a sequel or follow-up have been nonstop on social media since its airing. Walker got their hopes up on his birthday, June 9, when he shared a spoof movie poster for “Charlie’s Snow Angels” that made it look like he and his on-screen brothers were teaming up with Hallmark star Nikki DeLoach for a sequel.
The graphic was professionally created just for fun by movie poster artist Rick Slusher, Walker recently told Heavy, based on an idea that DeLoach shared jokingly during ChristmasCon last December. Fans went wild on social media, thinking it was a real movie in the works.
“I’d like to see it actually,” Walker told Heavy. “Like us saving Christmas or something?”
But, he said, the movie is “not happening — yet” and developing a follow-up to their huge hit is not as easy as it may seem, particularly because of the current writers’ strike and because the network and the movie’s screenwriters, Campbell and fellow Hallmark star Kimberley Sustad, know how difficult it is to create a sequel as good as the original.
On June 17, Campbell told TV Insider that the possibility of an actual sequel is slim to none.
“We talked with the network early on about a potential sequel and they just said, ‘We love the movie. We’d love to sort of work with you guys again in another capacity, but it’s just not going to be in powers on this one.’ So unfortunately, unless we get a miracle, I would say the chances are zero.”
However, Walker thinks the trio will be back in some fashion, given their chemistry, on and off the screen, and fan interest.
“Paul can bring down a room, like he is just so funny,” Walker said. “And then Tyler with his understated ‘Mr. Cool Guy’ thing that he does. It’s just incredible and so funny. I feel so fortunate that we found this in each other now. It’s amazing. It opens up a whole new world for us, you know?”
