This holiday season, you’ll never guess what’s coming to town – The Santa Clauses Season 2. That’s right, Tim Allen’s Scott Calvin, his family and allies from the North Pole are back after making their long-awaited return during the first season of the sequel series last year. The official trailer promoting the new episodes has finally arrived, and it teases even more holiday hijinks for the lead character. Though it also introduces fans to the seemingly antagonistic Magnus Antas (a.k.a. The Mad Santa), who’s played by Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet. It looks like the newcomer is going to clash with Allen’s Calvin, and I’m so down for these two sitcom legends facing off.
It would be an understatement to say that both actors are comedy royalty and, coincidentally, their signature shows both aired on ABC. While Eric Stonestreet made a name for himself as a cast member on Modern Family, Tim Allen headlined both Home Improvement and Last Man Standing (which eventually moved to Fox). So it’s somewhat poetic that these sitcom heavyweights would get to star in a production and play opposing roles. The trailer only provides a taste of what their characters’ feud is going to look like, but I’m already sold on the idea of these stars being pitting against each other.
The trailer sees Scott Calvin returning to his long-standing gig as Santa, after his plans for retirement were derailed by the end of Season 1. His goal now is to expand his business into a family venture, with even his kids taking on roles. He, of course, is hoping his son, Cal, opts to take the reins and become the new Clause in charge. His kid’s apparent ineptness aside, those aspirations are seemingly going to be jeopardized by the Mad Santa, who was apparently banished from the North Pole years ago.
As a fan of sitcoms (and just good storytelling in general), something I absolutely love is when there are two characters who are clearly meant to be foils for one another. That’s a major reason why the notion of Tim Allen’s Scott going to war with Eric Stonestreet’s Magnus Antas is delightful to me. Whoever thought to put these two stars together had a solid idea, and I’m curious to see how they play off each other. Given the adversarial relationship between the two holiday spirits, I’m expecting a number of moments in which they try to “one-up” each other.
Tim Allen Compares His Last Man Standing Relationships To The Santa Clauses
Disney+ subscription holders seem to have a lot to look forward to when it comes to this new season. Not only are there sure to be plenty of fun and sweet moments, but the cast seems stacked. Elizabeth Mitchell will once again play Carol Calvin (or Mrs. Claus) and joining the franchise for the first time are comedians Gabriel Iglesias (who's sold out bigger venues than the leading man) as Kris Kringle and Tracy Morgan, who plays a new Easter bunny. Also, hardcore fans will be excited to know franchise veterans Michael Dorn (the Sandman) and Kevin Pollak (Cupid) are back in action as well. Santa Clause devotees are sure to appreciate their inclusions as they were to see David Krumholtz’s Bernard return last year.
All in all, the new trailer is solid and sets the stage for what could be an entertaining season. Hopefully, though, that Tim Allen and Eric Stonestreet not only get their own individual moments to shine but truly get to chop it up on screen together. It’d be a shame if the two comedy veterans were to be in a project together and didn’t get much time to actually work together. So let’s bring on the war of the Santas, please!
The Santa Clauses returns to Disney+ with a two-episode premiere on November 8 as part of the 2023 TV schedule.
