The Big Picture
The Santa Clauses is returning for a second season on Disney+, continuing the story of Scott Calvin as Santa Claus and his family’s adventures in the North Pole. In Season 1, Scott learns about a Succession Clause that allows him to choose a successor, and he ultimately picks game developer Simon Choksi. Simon abuses his power and creates a program called CED that brings Christmas every day, causing chaos in the North Pole. Scott and his family work together to save Christmas and restore the holiday spirit.
Santa Claus is coming back to town, and by “town” we really mean Disney+. After being renewed for a second season almost immediately after the first ended, The Santa Clauses is returning this holiday season for another round of North Pole shenanigans. This family-friendly continuation of the Tim Allen-led franchise was a break-out hit last Christmas season, and will undoubtedly continue to expand on the exciting and strangely thought-out world of The Santa Clause. But in case you need a refresher before Santa’s next midnight ride, here’s the rundown of what happened back in Season 1.
The Santa Clauses
Release Date November 16, 2022
Cast Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Kal Penn, Matilda Lawler
Main Genre Family
Genres Comedy, Family, Drama
Rating TV-PG
Seasons 2
Creator Jack Burditt
What Happens in the ‘The Santa Clause’ Movie Trilogy?
In the original 1994 film The Santa Clause, successful Chicago-based business mogul Scott Calvin (Allen) accidentally kills Santa Claus in front of his young son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). To appease him, Scott puts on the Santa coat, unaware that when he does, he effectively signs “The Santa Clause” to become the next Santa. This leads to Scott slowly transforming into the spitting image of Father Christmas and deciding to forgo his old career in favor of his new one. Though it doesn’t sit well with his ex-wife Laura (Wendy Crewson) and her new husband Neil (Judge Reinhold) at first, everyone soon comes around to the idea in the end.
In The Santa Clause 2, Scott has been Santa for nearly a decade when one of his lead elves discovers “The Mrs. Clause.” If Santa doesn’t get married by Christmas, he’ll no longer be allowed to be Santa anymore. It’s pretty poor timing too, since a teenage Charlie is acting out to get his absent dad’s attention. This takes Scott back to Illinois where he is forced to better parent his son while, at the same time, falling in love with Charlie’s principal, Carol Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell). Oh, and during this whole endeavor, Scott leaves a life-sized toy Santa in charge of the North Pole and the plastic wannabe nearly ruins Christmas.
Four years later, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause introduces Jack Frost (Martin Short), who wants nothing more than to be Santa himself. Because Scott is distracted by Carol’s pregnancy and Christmas preparations, Frost breaks into Santa’s room of magical snow globes and discovers one that is associated with “The Escape Clause.” When he tricks Scott into saying a few magic words, the snow globe takes them to the night Scott became Santa, where Frost gets to the coat instead, sending Scott to an alternate world where Jack Frost has marketed both the Santa brand and the North Pole. Thankfully, Scott ends up saving Christmas after all, taking back his title, fixing the timeline, and welcoming his newborn son into the world.
Nearly 30 Years Later, Scott Calvin Wants to Retire in Season 1 of ‘The Santa Clauses’
Image via Disney+
Fast-forward another decade and a half, and we arrive at the first season of The Santa Clauses. Scott and Carol are still happily married, and their now two children, Buddy “Cal” Calvin-Claus (Austin Kane) and Sandra Calvin-Claus (Elizabeth Allen-Dick), run around the North Pole like its normal life. Everything is fine until Santa begins to lose bits of his magical power. After his power is diminished, resulting in physical effects on his health, Scott learns that there’s a final clause, “The Succession Clause.” This rule would allow Scott and his family to return to normal life so long as he rightfully chooses a successor.
This calls to mind Scott’s firstborn son Charlie, who always loved the North Pole and riding shotgun to Santa on Christmas Eve. At one point in the 1994 film, Charlie even notes that he wants to go into the family business. But time changes things, and people too, and nowadays, Charlie is living his best life with his wife and children in the real world. After being rejected by Charlie, Scott turns to some new candidates, picking folks from all over the world (with Peyton Manning being one of them) who might be a decent fit for the job. Eventually, he settles on game developer and single father Simon Choksi (Kal Penn).
As Scott and his family head back to the real world, Simon begins to make some changes to the North Pole himself. Not unlike the fake toy Santa and Jack Frost before him, Simon, mad with power, decides that Christmas should be more than once a year. So, he develops an instant-gratification program called “CED” (Christmas Every Day), which overworks the elves and makes the children of the world even more ungrateful than they possibly could have been. Even Simon’s daughter Grace (Rupali Redd) is heartbroken by what her father has become, but with the real Santa out of the picture, it seems like the new model of continual Christmas is permanent.
The Calvin Family Leaves Someone Else in Charge of the North Pole
Image via Disney+
While the North Pole descends into chaos, the Calvin-Claus family gets used to living in the real world. Carol is almost immediately offered a job running a local school, Cal becomes enamored by another (human) girl his age, and Sandra starts making friends through an equestrian club. The whole family transitions to the Chicago suburbs pretty easily, though strangely they never see Neil, Laura, or Scott’s “niece” Lucy (Liliana Mumy) from the original film trilogy. Or, if they do, then we never get to (maybe they’ll finally return with Season 2?).
Yet, while his family is off enjoying their new lives, Scott is miserable. Being Santa Claus brought true joy and fulfillment to not just him, but the whole world of kids that he fell in love with as Father Christmas. It sends him into a tailspin that makes him wonder if he made the right choice in the first place. Confused about what he really wants out of life, things get messy when Scott realizes that Christmas spirit is at a dangerous and all-time low. In fact, because of Simon’s CED initiative, the elves are disappearing, and the whole holiday is in danger of imploding under the weight of self-centeredness.
Although Simon has been chosen as the next Santa, he never completed his transition to the role. In Scott’s absence, Santa’s coat has gone AWOL, and the new head elf Betty (Matilda Lawler), who is promptly fired by Simon, searches all across the North Pole to find it. Eventually, she tracks it down to the home of La Befana (Laura San Giacomo), the Christmas witch (yes that’s a thing), and they devise a plan to bring the real Santa back.
Scott Learns the True Origins of Santa Claus in the “Yule-Verse”
Image via Beuna Vista Pictures Distribution
In the first two Santa Clause films, Scott’s right-hand head elf was none other than fan-favorite Bernard (David Krumholtz), whose absence in The Santa Clause 3 was pretty noticeably felt. Thankfully, Bernard returns to The Santa Clauses at the eleventh hour to convince Scott to become Santa again. Turns out, Bernard found himself a woman and fell in love with English actress Vanessa Redgrave, and because of that, he now ages like any normal human being. But the long-anticipated reunion between Scott and Bernard isn’t the only reason that Santa’s former head elf has returned…
Bernard takes his Santa to a spiritual realm nicknamed “The Yule-Verse,” where Scott learns the true origins of the Father Christmas title. After the original Christian saint Nicholas of Myra (Mitch Poulos) devoted his life to giving to others, the spirit of Christmas birthed everything from the North Pole and the elves to avatars of peace and goodwill to take on the Saint Nick role throughout time. As a result, none of the Santa Clauses before Scott Calvin were human beings, but rather spirits who inspired joy, love, and a generous heart to those who encountered them.
This means that when Scott accidentally killed Santa in The Santa Clause, he didn’t actually kill Santa (played by Jim O’Heir in The Santa Clause) because he wasn’t a human being anyway. The spirit of the former Santa (who was the seventeenth in the long line of avatars since 300 A.D.) tells Scott that he was chosen for this role, and as a result, he decides to take back the Father Christmas name and save the holiday once and for all.
Santa and His Family Save Christmas in Season 1 of ‘The Santa Clauses’
Image via Disney+
Unfortunately, Scott is captured the moment he steps foot in the North Pole, but his family (who have magical abilities of their own) soon arrives to save him. Together, the Calvin-Clauses defeat Simon, but only after he finds the Santa coat first. But before he can put it on and claim the mantle for himself, he takes a step back and looks at what he’s done to the holiday, and the poor father he’s been to his daughter. After talking it over with Grace, Simon gives Scott back the coat, and he becomes Santa Claus once again.
Immediately as Scott returns to being Santa, the elves are restored and Christmas is back on again. Bringing his wife and kids with him, Santa takes flight on Christmas Eve to deliver all the presents around the world, restoring the spirit of Christmas’ power in the process. Afterward, Simon and Grace go home (with wiped memories, we can’t have them finding their way back to the North Pole, where they too enjoy Christmas as it was meant to be.
The season ends with Scott finally being able to spend an entire Christmas with his family, something he’s never fully gotten to do. Recognizing that being Santa Claus isn’t just a one-man game, Scott looks forward to doing it again with his kids the following year. Who knows, maybe one of these days they’ll even get Charlie to join them, and thus fulfill his childhood dream of being Santa too. At least, for one night.
What To Expect in Season 2 of ‘The Santa Clauses’
Image via Disney+
The Santa Clauses Season 2 airs its first episode on November 8, 2023, which means that, if it follows the same six-episode formula the first season did, it will likely air its season finale just before Christmas. We don’t know too much about what this second season will bring, but we do know that, after the first season, Scott wants to turn the Santa thing into a family business, with everyone in charge of their own department. Additionally, Eric Stonestreet is set to appear as Magnus Antas, aka The Mad Santa, who wants to reclaim his throne on the North Pole. However Season 2 of The Santa Clauses ultimately plays out, there will undoubtedly be enough “holiday hijinks” for everyone, just in time for December 25.
The Santa Clauses can be streamed exclusively on Disney+.
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