Disney announced that Disney Legend Tim Allen is returning for The Santa Clause but the question is will they bring back Bernard the Elf.

Disney Legend Tim Allen will executive-produce The Santa Clause (working title), a Disney+ Original limited series in which he reprises the beloved role of Scott Calvin from Walt Disney Pictures’ blockbuster franchise. Production is set to begin in Los Angeles in March. Award-winning Jack Burditt is the executive producer and showrunner and Kevin Hench, Richard Baker and Rick Messina will also serve as executive producers.

The Disney Branded Television series is a production of 20th Television.

Allen previously 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. The actor 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.

In the Disney+ series, Scott Calvin 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.

However, the question of the hour is if they will bring back Bernard the Elf (David Krumholtz). I hope so. To not do so would be a shame. Krumholtz is very open about why he is not in the third film. I heard it myself while attending a panel during Wizard World Chicago in 2018. Here are my tweets from the panel:

https://twitter.com/DanielleSATM/status/1033407637252128769

https://twitter.com/DanielleSATM/status/1033407644709675008

Here’s the fun part, which is why today’s news is so shocking. While the studio announced the return of Tim Allen, nothing has been said about David Krumholtz. This is what he said during the panel in August 2018:

https://twitter.com/DanielleSATM/status/1033407647452672000

Krumholtz was working on Numb3rs at the time but the studio didn’t value the character to his liking. He said as much recently during an interview with Vulture:

Well, the story about my scheduling is true, but somehow also untrue. Yes, I feel that way. Bernard was in the third movie. They sent me the script, I had a pretty significant role. We did work out the schedule, which was going to be hellish on me, but I was going to make it work. And it was all set to go. But I would say that the character got devalued a little bit and I couldn’t in good conscience do it. The third one, I’ve tried to watch. It’s not the same. I think the first two are really special. The first one’s a classic, obviously. It’s wild to be part of something that’s lasted this long, that plays every single year and has become tradition in people’s homes. I could never have imagined that I’d be having this conversation years later.

To Disney and Jack Burditt, if you’re reading this, please bring back Bernard and pay David Krumholtz accordingly. The Santa Clause 3 was a letdown mainly because he wasn’t in there.

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