If Santa Claus eventually decides to retire, where does that leave Mrs. Claus and the rest of his family? That’s the big question that Disney+’s upcoming miniseries The Santa Clauses will answer as the capstone of The Santa Clause franchise. In their roles as Mrs. Claus and Santa’s son Cal, Elizabeth Mitchell and Austin Kane are big players in the story of The Santa Clauses.
The Santa Clauses sees Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) deciding to finally retire as Santa Claus and pass the torch to a Santa successor. While this is a big change in his life, Scott’s wife Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell) and his kids Cal (Austin Kane) and Sandra (Elizabeth Allen-Dick) are in for a big change themselves in acclimating to life away from the North Pole.
We speak to Elizabeth Mitchell and Austin Kane about their roles as Carol and Cal in The Santa Clauses, the legacy of the holiday franchise, and what each of their stories on the show entails.
Elizabeth Mitchell & Austin Kane on The Santa Clauses
Screen Rant: In The Santa Clauses, Scott is finally reaching retirement, and his family is also dealing with that with Carol having become Mrs. Claus, and Cal having only been in the North Pole and wanting to explore more of the world. What were some of the big, stand-out elements of Carol and Cal’s story for each of you?
Austin Kane: Yeah, I just how Cal is a very unique kid. Obviously, he’s been growing up in the North Pole all his life, he’s never stepped foot out of it. So him not only learning more about himself, but about the real world and his family more, because we also come to find out, he lives in his own little bubble too much. And there’s more about the family that he learns too and helps them grow as a family. He makes a very good team with his sister Sandra, and at first, they butt head a lot. He’s like any other kid who needs to break out of his shell more, and he’s so eager to, which I love that. And Mrs. Claus is iconic!
Elizabeth Mitchell: Yeah, I mean, I love this character and I love this family. I loved all of us coming together and finding that new dynamic, and it all came so sweet and easy to me. You know, these kids are easy to love, and this role makes so much sense to me, and I love the idea that Carol gets to go on a journey that is who she is outside of being a mom and being a wife and being a legendary figure. I guess I can consider myself a legendary figure as Mrs. Claus!
Screen Rant: There’s a lot of legacy behind The Santa Clause franchise, and that really is the foundation of the story of The Santa Clauses, not just Scott’s legacy as Santa, but also how his family at the North Pole has been part of that. In approaching this story as Scott’s farewell to being Santa and how that brings his family into it, what were some of the challenges in tackling each of your roles in the series?
Austin Kane: That is a great question that deserves a better answer, so you can go first!
Elizabeth Mitchell: I think that change is always so fascinating, and I think that Carol really loves being Mrs. Claus. But I think that finding your way in the real world in a different reality from the bubble that you’ve been living in, I think we can all identify with a lot now. I mean, you go into a party now and it’s like ‘Oh, there’s a lot of people here! This is too much!’ I think for me, the challenges and the joy are all the same thing. How do you find your place in this? How do you find the joy in this? How do you make your family work in completely different environments, and how do you find your own truth? And that was my kind of struggle in where I went to kind of find the heart of it. I mean, it always came back to love for me, and a little bit of humor, which goes hand-in-hand, I think.
Austin Kane: Yeah, and with my character Cal, he has a lust for life. He’s always happy and always trying to figure out more about the world around him, and it would be kind of a struggle, because he’s being thrown into the real world for the first time, but he has the joy about it where he’s not afraid at all. He wants to take it on and any challenges that may occur, because he’s a very emotional dude, he takes it in stride.
Elizabeth Mitchell: With resilience, right? Things that would bother most teenagers, you’re just like ‘Okay, well that’s interesting!’ You’re curious, rather than self-protective, it’s beautiful.
Austin Kane: The whole family really is resilient. We’re going to have many, many troubles in the show, but we all just take them in stride and keep going. We’ll figure it out.
Elizabeth Mitchell: We’ll figure it out together.
About The Santa Clauses
Scott Calvin is on the brink of his 65th birthday and realizing that he can’t be Santa forever,” the log line reads. “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.
Check out our other The Santa Clauses interviews here:
The first two episodes of The Santa Clauses debut on Disney+ on November 16th.
