‘We won’t be watching’: A Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce Christmas movie is coming to Lifetime, and Swifties are out for (bad) blood

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s relationship has reached a new milestone. Their love story is being turned into a Lifetime Christmas movie and it stars the man behind a famous NFL meme as the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.

Lifetime announced its Christmas slate for 2024 on Tuesday, including a film titled Christmas in the Spotlight, which is heavily inspired by Swift and Kelce’s whirlwind romance, even if unofficially. Like their real-life counterparts, the characters in the film, Bowyn and Drew, are a pop star and a football player, respectively, and strike up a romance when they meet backstage at one of the singer’s shows.

Swift and Kelce’s romance had a more interesting start because the musician actually declined Kelce’s request to meet her, claiming she didn’t meet people before a show (something fans know not to be entirely true). The footballer spoke about his disappointment on the podcast he shares with his brother Jason Kelce, revealing he had made Swift a friendship bracelet with his number that he never got to gift her. Soon, rumors that the two were seeing each other emerged and they’ve been together since, in the process fueling thousands of fantasies, works of fanfiction, books, documentaries, and now, a film. Who doesn’t love it when the most popular girl in school hits it off with the star jock?

Lifetime was surely aware that the movie’s association with Swift, who could very well be the most famous person in the world at the moment, would draw much-welcomed attention. What they maybe did not expect was for fans to reject the project, calling it “weird” and “cringe.”

“We won’t be watching, it’s weird,” one Swiftie declared. “Another company using them to make [money],” another argued.

There was another aspect of the film that was turning heads nearly as much as Swift. The actor playing Kelce is Laith Wallschleger and, as it turns out, this is not the first footballer he’s emulating. It’s not even the first tight end. Fans of sports media immediately recognized his face from FX’s “American Sports Story” where his short-lived but unforgettable turn as legendary Patriots and Buccaneers player Rob Gronkowski went viral on NFL Twitter.

“Give this guy all the Emmys for his portrayal of Gronk,” fans joked. If this is the level of subtlety Wallschleger is bringing to his portrayal of Travis Kelce we might just have to tune in to Christmas in the Spotlight, after all. “Wait a second…Fake Gronk is also gonna play Fake Kelce? I’m calling the police,” another X user commented. I don’t know, it sounds kind of perfect to me.

As for the Swift-inspired pop star, well, she’ll be played by Jessica Lord, a 26-year-old actress and dancer from England who you may have seen on Hulu’s Find Me in Paris or Family Channel’s The Next Step. Even more impressively, the film also stars The Real and How Do I Look?‘s Jeannie Mai in one of her first-ever acting jobs. Supermodel Haley Kalil rounds up the cast by bringing her real-life experience of dating a footballer after being married to offensive tackle Matt Kalil for seven years.

“With each passing day they spend together, their feelings grow stronger… but can it last in the limelight, especially when they both have such hectic schedules? With people questioning if their feelings for each other are real or just for show, the pressure mounts from the press, paparazzi, their fans and even their family,” the movie synopsis teases.

Christmas in the Spotlight premieres on Nov. 23 at 8 pm.