The Santa Clauses Stars Elizabeth Mitchell and Austin Kane Talk Return To The Santa Clause Franchise
The original The Santa Clause film turned Tim Allen into the iconic man with a bag back in 1994, leading to two spin-off films. Now 16 years since The Escape Clause comes a TV spin-off called The Santa Clauses that finds Scott Calvin on the brink of his 65th birthday as he realizes he can’t be Santa forever. Can he find a suitable replacement Santa while preparing his family for a new adventure in the real world? Pop Culture Planet spoke with Elizabeth Mitchell and Austin Kane about the new series.
Our Mrs Claus, better known as actress Elizabeth Mitchell, never thought the cast would return to the North Pole again in this classic franchise. “It’s such a gift. I had no idea we’d ever do it again. It was so much fun to step back into Carol again. I was so delighted. It really does feel like a nice big sigh,” she shared. “My mom always said that’s the character most like me. I don’t think she’s that far off, but it was really, really fun.”
The new series explores the lore that we just have come to accept about Mrs Claus without ever questioning it before. “I love the fact that at a time, especially in your 50s, where you’re like, ‘I have taken care of my family and I’ve taken care of my world’ and I had this ‘What’s next, right? Who am I? Am I part of this machine? Am I my own machine? Like what am I doing here?’ I love that she starts to question,” Mitchell opened up. “I also love that she’s not particularly bitter about it. She’s more along the lines of like, ‘Wait a minute, I really don’t have a first name. What did that even mean?’ And it cascades into other fun things that she gets to do throughout the show.”
She continued: “I think that a lot of people will identify with waking up and being like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m not even incredibly sure who I am right now.’”
Austin Kane, who plays their son Cal/Buddy, was a massive fan of The Santa Clause franchise. “I was a seasoned vet,” he said about the films. “[It was] a dream working with these people because it was such a tradition in my family. Whenever we’d all get together for the holidays at my grandparent’s place, we’d watch the films. Now I’m here and I get to live out this dream of mine.”
Kane explains Cal’s journey this season. “All Cal has known about his dad is that he is Santa. He’s is the big man in the red coat. It’s interesting to see him not only see his dad at the top, but now he’s starting to see him questioning, doing the same thing, like what’s next? Being at the North Pole, we don’t know what’s next for Cal when he goes to the real world. He doesn’t know what’s in store, but he wants to experience everything and if he finds anything he’s able to do on the way, I think that’d be pretty cool.
One of Mitchell’s favorite scenes to film was finally figuratively and literally letting Mrs Claus’s candy-filled hair loose, while Kane loved riding in Santa’s sleigh. “Being in the sleigh I feel like for me was like a bucket list moment. I got to be in the sleigh steering for a bit, what happens after is its own thing. But I mean just being in the sleigh with Santa Claus and just the family too and the commons area is just any kids dream.”
Only in the last six years did I learn that the title of The Santa Clause franchise was a legal pun. An iron-clad clause — as in a contract — that makes Scott Calvin become Santa Claus the minute he puts on his suit. “Not just you, no, we really did we really packed a whammy for grammar, didn't we?” laughed Mitchell when I confessed this during our interview. “So yeah sorry about that.”
New episodes of The Santa Clauses drop Wednesdays on Disney+.
