Disney has announced a new limited series based on The Santa Clause, and Tim Allen is returning to star in it as Scott Calvin. Allen will also be an executive producer on the project, which is coming to Disney+.
Production on The Santa Clause TV series–which doesn’t have a final title yet–will begin in Los Angeles this March. The showrunner is Jack Burditt (30 Rock, Modern Family, Frasier). A release date hasn’t been announced, but a premiere around the holidays would seemingly make sense.
Allen played Calvin, a man who unwittingly becomes Santa Clause one fateful evening, in 1994’s The Santa Clause and reprised the role in The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
For the TV series, Calvin is looking for someone to become the next Santa Clause as he looks to start a new life somewhere warmer.
“Scott Calvin is on the brink of his 65th birthday and realizing that he can’t be Santa forever. He’s starting to lose a step in his Santa duties, and more importantly, he’s got a family who could benefit from a life in the normal world, especially his two kids who have grown up at the Pole,” reads a line from the show’s description. “With a lot of elves, children, and family to please, Scott sets out to find a suitable replacement Santa while preparing his family for a new adventure in a life south of the pole.”
Allen has a long history with Disney already, as he voiced Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story series. He also starred in Disney’s Jungle 2 Jungle and The Shaggy Dog.
The Santa Clause is a generally wholesome and family-friendly film, but that wasn’t always the case. In the original script, Allen was going to murder Santa Claus by shooting him because he thought he was a burglar.
“The original Santa Clause was a little darker … I actually shot and killed Santa; he fell off the roof because I thought he was a burglar. And the kid says, ‘You just killed Santa!’ And I said, ‘He shouldn’t have been on the roof!
He and the writers took the idea to then-Disney head Jeffrey Katzenberg, and the executive said that direction wouldn’t fly. “We can’t start a Disney movie with you murdering Santa,” Allen said he recalls Katzenberg telling him at the time.
Allen was praised for his performance as Santa in The Santa Clause, but he was only acting. In real life, Allen doesn’t like children and would never fit the model of Santa.
“I’m literally the last guy in the world who should be Santa Claus. I don’t like kids all that much. I’m not going to hurt them; I won’t say inappropriate stuff. Just don’t like ’em,” he said. Allen also recalled a day of filming where he was in the Santa suit smoking a cigarette, and he told director John Pasquin to “keep those frickin’ kids away from me!”
