The Santa Clauses Season 2 Interview: Tim Allen & Elizabeth Allen-Dick On Family In The North Pole

Season 2 of The Santa Clauses is currently streaming on Disney+ with new installments dropping every Wednesday until the finale on December 6. While the first season saw Scott and his family fight to save the North Pole from his poorly chosen successor, the latest batch of episodes focuses on the introduction of Eric Stonestreet’s (Modern Family) Mad Santa. Finally free from the spell that left them incapacitated, Magnus Antas and his gnome, Olga, attempt to take Christmas back under their control.

Tim Allen stars as Scott alongside his real-life daughter Elizabeth Allen-Dick who plays Sandra. Allen is previously known for his leading role in the original The Santa Clause movie franchise and has starred in series such as Home Improvement and Last Man Standing. Meanwhile, The Santa Clauses is Allen-Dick’s first official project. Elizabeth Mitchell, Devin Bright, Austin Kane, Matilda Lawler, and Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias complete season 2’s main cast.

Screen Rant interviewed Tim Allen and Elizabeth Allen-Dick about Scott’s plan to turn the North Pole into a family business and how their characters’ father-daughter relationship will continue to strengthen.

Tim Allen & Elizabeth Allen-Dick Talk The Santa Clauses Season 2

Screen Rant: Tim, when you first signed on for The Santa Clause in 1994, did you ever imagine that you’d get to play the same character in the 2020s alongside your real-life daughter?

Tim Allen: Wow. That’s a loaded question, and no, no, no, no, no. Reading the original script—it was a very, very bold comedy. Disney, in all their wisdom, toned it down a bit. It was a little racier upfront, meaning that, I think, in the original script, I actually hurt Santa on the roof. Let’s put it that way. I thought it was really funny. They didn’t want to start a movie hurting Santa Claus, so it turned into a soft movie. The director, John Pasquin, turned it into a very emotional, wonderful story. It lifted it past a situation comedy about Santa and into a wonderful story about Christmas and giving and forgiveness and all of these themes. And no, I did not expect that. When they pushed to do another series, it was more like chapters of a book.

We got to explain why the elves didn’t get freaked out when I showed up at the North Pole in number one. Instead of going, “What happened to the other guy?!” they just said, “Get to work.” We did explain that. And then I have a family at the North Pole. We do explain that. That’s very rare. There’s never been a human family. It’s always been a spiritual creature of some sort. And then, on top of that, quite by accident—and I do mean by accident, she earned it—Elizabeth, my actual daughter, plays Santa’s daughter. You can’t script this. Long story short, this is not what her mom and I wanted—her to do this. She’s a great student. This business takes up a lot of time. Anyway, she earned it, we love it, and she’s very good at it, so I’m going to give her credit for that.

Coming off of season 1, the family, aside from Scott, had some great experiences in the real world. Elizabeth, do you think Sandra might be disappointed about being back in the North Pole or is this where she wants to be?

Elizabeth Allen-Dick: I think Sandra really enjoyed it at the North Pole, and she didn’t really want to leave. She was like, “This is where I belong. This is my home.” Cal, on the other hand was like, “Yeah, get me out of here. I want to go to the real world. I want to experience all these things.” But I think Sandra was like, “I don’t know. I’m good with staying here.” I feel like the North Pole was kind of her happy place.

Scott wants Cal to be Santa even if he’s not, necessarily, the best choice. Tim, do you think part of why he’s so dead-set on this is related to what happened with Simon the last time he looked outside the family?

Tim Allen: Partly that and partly that he doesn’t really want to retire. By keeping it in the family, he still gets to be there. He doesn’t have to go back. I think our trip to Chicago last season was a wake-up call. The North Pole is a lot of magic and a lot of work. It also is a lot of love and heart, and it’s a position of giving. I think he likes that and doesn’t want to give that up. I think it’s a selfish thing. “If I keep it in the family, I still get to hang around the North Pole, and I just get to be the matriarch,” if you will. So I think it’s more of a selfish thing because if we go, we go. We would all leave the North Pole.

It takes a bit for her to get there, but Sandra does open up to Scott about her powers at the end of Episode 2. How is the father-daughter relationship between your characters going to continue to strengthen this season?

Elizabeth Allen-Dick: I think it ends up becoming a really special thing. At first, Sandra is very closed off. She’s not talking to anyone except La Befana, and she’s not telling either of her parents. She’s very to herself. When she finally opens up it, it opens up another door to a really amazing father-daughter relationship in the series. It’s just something really special, I feel like. Every scene that we did together was very heartfelt, and it was just a very special thing to shoot.

I love the friendship between Noel and Santa. They’re in a bit of a different spot this season with Noel stepping in as head elf, so what might that shift look like for them?

Tim Allen: I think it really tells Noel that his relationship with his partner is probably more important. He actually has to define that his obsession with his friendship with Santa is fun, but his strength comes from his partner. When she leaves, it really illuminates that. His weaknesses and his strengths come from that relationship.

About The Santa Clauses Season 2

In the second season, the Calvin family is back in the North Pole as Scott Calvin continues his role as Santa Claus after retirement plans were thwarted when failing to find a worthy successor in season one. Now that Scott and his family have successfully saved Christmas, Scott turns his focus towards training his son Calvin to eventually take over the “family business” as Santa Claus.

Check out our other interviews with The Santa Clauses season 2 cast as well:

• Composer Ariel Rechtshaid
• Production Designer Melanie Jones
• Eric Stonestreet
• Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias