Willie and Korie Robertson are New York Times bestselling authors and co-founders of eKKL Entertainment. They became household names with the wildly popular show Duck Dynasty which followed around the Robertson family in their everyday life at work and home. Their family business, Duck Commander, has grown from a small project to a global outdoor brand that’s sold millions of duck calls and merchandise. They recently sat down with The Collision to discuss eKKL Entertainment and their upcoming film Elijah Peel.
(Note: Interview quotes have been edited for length and clarity. To view the full interview, watch the video above.)
Nyah Phillips: How did you get involved with eKKL, and what are your personal goals for eKKL?
Korie Robertson: Well, thanks so much. We are very excited to be launching eKKL.
After we did our show Duck Dynasty, we were really struck by how entertainment is shaping our culture, and we felt like we wanted to be involved in that in a bigger way. So, we’ve done that through movies and podcasting, and all of that, and eKKL was a great natural extension of it all, bringing everything together—series, movies, podcasts, all the things that all of us are watching and consuming.
We wanted to put it all on one platform that you can trust, that feels like it matches the values that we have and that people who follow what we do have as well. So, we’re excited to be doing that through eKKL.
Phillips: You’re also executive producing a film that eKKL is releasing in August called Elijah Peel, which is based on a true story. Can you tell me about that project and why it spoke to you? Why did you choose to help out?
Willie Robertson: Yeah, I think we’ve always been storytellers. Duck Dynasty was a series of stories that we told about our family, and then with the movie The Blind, we told our own family story about my parents.
We saw how powerful that can be. So anytime we see a story that reflects the fruits of the Spirit or God’s love in an impactful way, we’re always interested. Elijah Peel was definitely one of those. It’s similar to The Blind, where you see the fall. I think we all have those times in our lives when we fall down, and the question is, how do we get back up?
This is a more modern story about redemption, coming through, and getting help in surprising places, which Elijah did. That’s why we got involved. We just feel like it’s a great story to put out there that can help people.
Korie Robertson: One thing I love about it is that Phil’s story—our family story— Phil was at rock bottom. He was at his worst: broke, living in the woods. Elijah, on the other hand, was at the top of his game. In this moment, Elijah Peel had all the fame and all the success, but he realized that it was actually meaningless unless you know Christ.
Either end of the spectrum is meaningless without the hope of Jesus.
Phillips: Speaking of Christianity in film, you were both prominent Christians in entertainment before that was as common as it is today. It seems like more and more celebrities and public figures are proclaiming their faith, and faith-based entertainment is really improving and becoming more popular.
What excites you guys the most about this development in entertainment?
Willie Robertson: Well, I think, first, there are people who are coming to faith, and when they’re actors or in the entertainment business, they want to share their faith through what they do professionally.
I also think there’s profitability, excitement, and a lot of viewership around more wholesome content, especially things that talk specifically about the Lord and faith. That’s gonna pull people in as well. You kinda go where people are watching. I think that’s happened, and the quality has improved a lot. Faith-based films have improved a lot. Podcasting is huge, too.
So bringing all of that together into one space made sense, because there are a lot of other platforms out there that aren’t faith-focused at all. We felt there was definitely a gap there that we could help fill.
Korie Robertson: I was thinking about when Duck Dynasty first came on the scene. I remember thinking, “People are looking for something like this.”
Our show was fun and funny, and it was fun to make, but even more than that, I think it was refreshing. People were saying, “Wow, this is what we wanted.”
They wanted something that felt wholesome, that the whole family could watch together, that honored God, that sits around and has a prayer at the dinner table. I feel like it was a moment in entertainment history where people realized, “Oh, that’s what we were looking for.”
We hope that’s what eKKL will be for people too—that they’ll say, “This is what we were looking for”: a place that feels wholesome, refreshing, and uplifting to culture.
That’s what we’re hoping to provide with eKKL.
Elijah Peel releases through eKKL Entertainment on August 14, 2026.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source thecollision.org ’
