Nearly 30 years after the original Christmas classic confused an entire generation of kids as to how to actually spell Santa Claus, Tim Allen is set to reprise his role as Scott Calvin for a Disney Plus limited series. The Santa Clauses will continue the story of The Santa Clause franchise with numerous returning characters and the introduction of Kal Penn as a new lead.
THE SANTA CLAUS(E)
In the beloved Christmas movie from 1994, Tim Allen play Scott Calvin, a divorced dad whose only shared character trait with Santa Claus was his initials. After accidentally sending the current Santa into early retirement, Scott is forced to put on the famous red Santa suit and take over. Eventually, Scott comes to appreciate the importance of family and believe in the true spirit of Christmas, mostly through the help of his son, Eric Lloyd, and Head Elf Bernard, David Krumholtz. The Santa Clause 2 introduced a new clause which led to Elizabeth Mitchell as Carol, a love interest for Scott and the eventual Mrs. Claus. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause had a villainous Jack Frost, played by a perfectly eccentric Martin Short, attempt to replace Scott as Santa.
THE SANTA CLAUSES ON DISNEY+
The Santa Clauses is a limited series that will conclude Scott Calvin’s journey as Santa Claus. With his 65th birthday approaching, Scott Calvin is starting to lose some of his holiday magic and decides to pass on the responsibility of Santa Claus to someone new, while also preparing his family for a more “normal” life outside of the North Pole. Kal Penn’s character Simon Choksi is described as an ambitious game inventor and devoted single father, with aspirations of becoming the next Jeff Bezos. While not yet confirmed, it seems likely that Simon will end up being the perfect Santa replacement, with his journey mimicking Scott’s in the first film. He’s even got the right initials.
A large number of returning cast members will also be joining Tim Allen and Kal Penn on this holiday adventure, including Eric Lloyd as Charlie Calvin, Elizabeth Mitchell as Mrs. Claus and David Krumholtz as Head Elf Bernhard. With so many previous characters showing up, its possible we may also see a return of Judge Reinhold or Martin Short, as well.
THE SANTA CLAUSES PREMIERES NOVEMBER 16, 2022
The Santa Clauses will debut two episodes on November 16, 2022 on Disney Plus. The show is currently billed as a limited series; however, there have been hints that the franchise may not end with this series. Considering this show could be as long as all three previous Santa Clause movies combined, there is certainly room to expand the Santa mythology and set-up potential spin-offs for the future.
At the D23 Expo, Disney’s annual fan presentation of upcoming projects, Tim Allen explained that the TV show format allows them to explore the world in much more detail, and promises that several questions never explained in the films will be answered, including the origin of Santa and what happened to the original Santa and Mrs. Claus from the first film. To coincide with D23, Disney also released the first (of hopefully many) teaser trailers for The Santa Clauses, which you can check out right here.
Yes, that is football legend Peyton Manning cameoing as a potential Santa Claus replacement.
The Elf Squad wishes we can shake a magic snowglobe and make The Santa Clauses appear right now… but we’ll settle for waiting until November 16!