Tim Allen is returning to Disney — and to the North Pole. The actor-comedian is set to star in and executive-produce The Santa Clause (working title), a Disney+ original limited series, in which he will reprise his role as Scott Calvin from the hit Walt Disney Pictures holiday franchise.
On the series, Allen is reuniting with Jack Burditt, creator of Allen’s hit sitcom Last Man Standing, who will serve as executive producer and showrunner on The Last Clause. Last Man Standing writer-executive producer Kevin Hench will executive produce the new series, alongside Allen’s managers, Richard Baker and Rick Messina who also had EP credits on LMS.
In Disney Branded Television’s The Santa Clause series, produced by 20th Television, Scott Calvin (Allen) 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. 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.
Production on the series is set to begin in March in Los Angeles.
Classic holiday movie franchises from the Disney library are being mined for Disney+; this past holiday season, the streamer premiered a new Home Alone film.
Allen won a People’s Choice Award for his portrayal of Scott Calvin, Santa Claus’s proxy, complete with expanding waistline, rosy cheeks and snow-white whiskers in the 1994 film The Santa Clause. He went on to play the role in two sequels, 2002’s The Santa Clause 2 and 2006’s The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. (You can watch a trailer for the third movie below.) Allen reunited with the creative team from The Santa Clause to make Disney’s Jungle 2 Jungle, and also starred in Disney’s remake of The Shaggy Dog in 2006.
Additionally, Allen voices one of the most popular Disney animated characters, Buzz Lightyear, in Pixar’s Toy Story franchise.
On the TV side at Disney, the comedian headlined one of ABC’s signature comedy series, Home Improvement. Allen also starred for nine seasons on Last Man Standing, which started on ABC before moving to Fox and was produced by 20th Television.