A different type of holiday romance. The Princess Switch: Switched Again not only introduces a third character, Fiona, played by Vanessa Hudgens, but also does something else a bit different for holiday films: shows a bit of real life.

The last time fans saw Prince Edward (Sam Palladio) and Stacy De Novo (Hudgens), they married in a royal wedding and lived happily ever after. Although the sequel is filled with holiday happiness, it also goes the more realistic route, the Nashville alum, 33, explains during this week’s “Watch With Us” podcast.

“There are smiles and some Christmas cheer and making everything happy after but at the same time, the story moving forward is that relationships aren’t always easy — that even if you’re a prince and a princess, there are pressures and the spotlight and there’s relationship struggles,” he told Us. “Edward’s feeling a little bit on the outside this time. Stacy’s sort of been thrown into this crazy whirlwind.”

Palladio noted that Margaret (also Hudgens) and Kevin (Nick Sagar) are also dealing with “a little uncertainty” in their relationship.

“I kind of appreciate that, in terms of the writing, that we’re not just straight into babies,” he said. “You see a bit more vulnerability and a human side there [from Edward]. He’s your prince charming, but he’s also awkward and a bit weird! He doesn’t quite get it sometimes. So, I get to play into that a little bit. He loves Stacy deeply and he wants to be the best husband he can be.”

The singer — who recorded an original song for the movie — admitted that sometimes things get confusing when filming with Hudgens, 31, since she portrays not two but three characters in the second movie.

“It was tricky. Props to Vanessa! Having to learn three lead characters is pretty crazy, and I’m sure her head was spinning some days,” he told Us, noting that some days filmed for 15 hours. “Also trying to make them different and three differing accents — this one has this inflection and this one does this. Props to her, but it was it was a lot of fun. It was sometimes confusing! We’d be like, ‘Who am I talking to?’ And of course, we were doing green screen stuff as well and split screens and, oh, you’re looking at, like, a tennis ball on the end of a piece of metal. It was like, ’OK, this tennis ball is Fiona? This stunt double here, that’s Margaret? Ok, got it.’ It was a lot of fun!”

As for a third movie, the conversations have already begun, but due to the current state of the world, things are on hold.

Although Palladio said it “would be fun” to have babies in the future story lines, he’s not sure that’s the angle they’re headed.

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“I think these movies are about family, love and friendship, and I think a clear [next] step would be something like that,” the Humans alum shared. “I think there’s definitely elements of that that could be really fun, but having read some early drafts and things, there’s also some very unexpected twists and turns.”

The Princess Switch: Switched Again drops on Netflix Thursday, November 19.

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