The Santa Clauses Just Added A Comedy Legend
The Santa Clauses has brought Gabriel Iglesias on for the upcoming second season as an amusement park owner named Kris Kringle.
Not everyone celebrates Christmas, and even fewer believe in Santa Claus, but many can agree that he is commonly depicted as fat and fluffy. Now, a familiar face who self-describes as those same things is joining in on the Christmas spirit. According to an article from Deadline, the Christmas-themed Disney+ series The Santa Clauses is adding none other than comedian Gabriel Iglesias as a series regular for Season Two.
Gabriel Iglesias joins the cast of The Santa Clauses for Season 2 as Kris Kringle, the owner and operator of a Christmas-themed amusement park called Santaland with a strong love for all things Christmas. With a name like Kris Kringle, he could replace Allen’s Scott Calvin, who has been looking to pass on the iconic red robe.
Gabriel Iglesias’ brand of accessible comedy has made him the second highest-grossing touring comedian of his time, boasting a large following that consists of over 25 million fans on social media and over 1.1 billion views on YouTube. He may be best known for his stand-up specials Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy and Gabriel Iglesias: I’m Not Fat… I’m Fluffy. Iglesias released his most recent standup special, Gabriel Iglesias: Stadium Fluffy, in 2022.
The Santa Clauses’ Gabriel Iglesias has also featured in several film and television appearances outside his stand-up work. He starred in, and executive produced many television series, including the comedy series Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution, the food and travel series Fluffy’s Food Adventures, and the Netflix comedy series Mr. Iglesias.
He’s featured in the Channing Tatum-led comedy Magic Mike and the subsequent Magic Mike XXL, the Pixar animated film Coco, and most recently, the animated film Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. He is known for his recognizable use of multiple gag voices and impressions.
The Santa Clauses is a sequel to the Santa Clause film series starring Tim Allen, consisting of 1994’s The Santa Clause, 2002’s The Santa Clause 2, and 2006’s The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. The films center around Scott Calvin, a struggling divorced Dad who accidentally causes Santa’s death and is forced to take on the permanent role of replacement Santa, growing the signature white beard and Santa belly over a few months. The series picks up after the events of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, in which Calvin must recruit the help of his in-laws during a Christmas visit gone awry because of Jack Frost’s scheming plans to take over the North Pole.
The Santa Clauses premiered in 2022, 16 years after the previous film. Tim Allen and Elizabeth Mitchell reprise their roles as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus and Carol Newman-Calvin-Mrs. Claus, alongside a cast featuring Kal Penn, Austin Kane, David Krumholtz, and Matilda Lawler.
The first season of The Santa Clauses saw Calvin ready to turn over Santa Claus’s mantle and search for a worthy replacement. Calvin’s replacement Simon Choksi, played by Kal Penn turns out to be more of a tyrannical Jeff Bezos than a benevolent Jolly Saint Nick, Calvin returns to his duties as Santa Claus and takes back control of the North Pole. By the end of the season, although he deems that he has not found a replacement just yet, he decides that he’s going to start training his son to take over the family business.
Although viewers are unsure what’s in store for his character in The Santa Clauses Season 2, Gabriel Iglesias’ addition is a welcome and fitting surprise to the franchise.
