The Christmas Chronicles 3 - Will It Ever Happen?

Every year, dozens of new Christmas movies hit outlets like The Hallmark Channel and Netflix, but few have earned a spot in the modern-day holiday movie canon like the two "Christmas Chronicles" entries have. In 2018, the initial film racked up 20 million streams (which Netflix equates to a $200 million opening weekend), and the 2020 sequel amassed 1.5 billion total streaming minutes upon its first seven days of availability.

Clearly the demand is ripe for more rollicking, funny, mythology-building holiday films starring Kurt Russell as Santa Claus and Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus, with their Christmas adventures involving the Pierce family. And with a word like "Chronicles" in the title, filmmakers and distributors are clearly hinting that there's plenty more magic in the sleigh to churn out at least one more movie. But will we ever actually get to see a third tale play out? Here's everything we know about "The Christmas Chronicles 3," should it ever come to pass.

"The Christmas Chronicles 2" debuted on Netflix in 2020, bringing back everybody's favorite sexy Santa and introducing audiences to the villainous Belsnickel. Shortly afterwards, there were rumors online that a third film might be in the works, but as of this writing, nothing has been officially confirmed by Netflix or anyone involved.

So what's the hold-up on seeing Kurt Russell's Kris Kringle back in action? Well, the over-scheduling of crew and cast could be a major factor. Chris Columbus produced both existing films and co-wrote and directed the second, and just after "The Christmas Chronicles 2" wrapped, he moved on to direct and develop the movie adaptation of horror game "Five Nights at Freddy's." Granted, he walked away from that project in mid-2021, but he's been keeping busy since then. Columbus is campaigning for a third "Gremlins" movie (he directed the first, after all), and his studio 26th Street Pictures is adapting David Michael Slater's Holocaust novel "The Vanishing."

Star Kurt Russell has also been very busy as of late, portraying Mr. Nobody in the "Fast and Furious" movies and starring in the high-profile Apple TV+ series "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." It's hard to deliver presents across the world when you're dealing with Godzilla.

The resident Santa Claus of "The Christmas Chronicles" movies is played by none other than Hollywood legend Kurt Russell. The actor put in a lot of time and work into his portrayal of jolly old St. Nicholas, and we assume he'd want for all of that effort to pay off by making as many holiday movies as possible. As "The Christmas Chronicles 2" director Chris Columbus told Yahoo! Movies in 2020, "When Kurt Russell plays Santa Claus, he writes 170 pages about the guy's backstory and mythology. That is an actor's commitment." Columbus also elaborated on how much the star loves this particular character, explaining, "[Russell] said to me, 'I want to walk into the sunset, this being the last role I play.' He wants to continue doing it."

Russell is also willing to break his personal "no sequels" rule to make another entry in "The Christmas Chronicles." Speaking with The New York Times upon the release of "The Christmas Chronicles 2," the actor was asked about future films, and he responded, "We have no idea what Netflix wants to do there. I've never been big on sequels, but that was 50, 40, 30 years ago. Now sequels aren't even sequels anymore. We've just cyclically found our way around to making television. You go to the movies and you're seeing television because there's a serial aspect to it." If Russell enjoys playing Santa and doesn't mind making more of these movies, we're hoping he'll eventually grant our Christmas wish for more "Christmas Chronicles."

Netflix hasn't ordered a "Christmas Chronicles 3" just yet, but original cast member Darby Camp (young Kate Pierce) is already up for a trilogy. "I would be interested in doing a third one. I would love to get to work with everybody again," Camp told PureWow in November 2020. She even has ideas for her character, saying, "If we get a third one, I would really love to see Kate actually drive the sleigh on her own."

Of course, she isn't the only actor who wants more yuletide adventures. Tyrese Gibson and Jahzir Bruno joined the series in "The Christmas Chronicles 2" as father and son Bob and Jack Booker, part of a newly blended family along with Pierces. Both would be pleased to be part of another movie in the franchise, although they'd like to have a little bit more to do. "I'm like a real action star that never got to do any action," Gibson, a "Fast and Furious" veteran, told Decider of his "Christmas Chronicles 2" workload. "I want something to blow up. I want to jump off a bridge in a car." When asked if he wanted to see his character do anything new in a third film, Bruno concurred with Gibson, adding, "I'm gonna say the same thing: more stunts."

Another installment in Netflix's two-films-deep "Christmas Chronicles" series has the luxury of drawing from not only its own cinematic universe with the Pierce family and its unique take on Santa Claus but the whole of Christmas history, myth, tradition, and storytelling. The first film introduced Kurt Russell's dazzling take on Santa's Christmas Eve activities, the second involved Mrs. Claus and the whole North Pole community of toymakers and elves, and a third film could go in any number of directions.

As it currently stands, "The Christmas Chronicles 2" director Chris Columbus doesn't have a definite plan in place for a part three. "Right now I can't even think about what the third potential movie could be," he told ComicBook.com. "But we're certainly set up to open this world even more." That being said, Columbus thinks there's potential in filling in some of the details on Santa and Mrs. Claus' mutual backstory. "There's a poignant moment in the movie where they're watching the kids make snow angels, and Mrs. Claus says, 'It's so nice to have real children in the village again,'" Columbus explained. "But you're like, 'We never explain why she feels that way. There's some sort of hidden, slightly dark, melancholy thing in their past that we don't know about.'"