In Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Kurt Russell played a charming man with a beard who traveled around the universe presenting gifts to women, and while he wasn’t literally Santa Claus, the connection seems fairly clear—as long as you ignore the stuff about him being a living planet that dreamed of intergalactic conquest. Anyway, having proven himself on Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Russell has now signed on to play Santa for real in a yet-untitled Christmas movie for Netflix.
This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says the movie will be directed by Chris Columbus—a Christmas expert thanks to his work on the Home Alone series—with The Babysitter’s Judah Lewis and Big Little Lies’ Darby Camp starring alongside Russell. The plot revolves around two kids who try to prove Santa exists by getting photographic evidence, only to accidentally cause his sleigh to crash somewhere in Chicago. It’s a very classic Christmas movie plot, and it should give Russell’s Santa plenty of chances to flirt with intergalactic women once again.