If you see a familial resemblance between Tim Allen’s Scott Calvin in the upcoming TV show The Santa Clauses and his onscreen daughter, you’re on to something. That is indeed Elizabeth Allen-Dick, one of Allen’s real-life daughters, making her acting debut in the role of Sandra in the Disney+ series, a small-screen continuation of the Santa Clause film trilogy.
“It’s difficult to believe, but it had very little to do with me,” Allen told Entertainment Weekly. “I wanted to put my youngest daughter as an elf, just so she’d see herself in a movie. But as she was reading for that, she read so well that they said, ‘We’d like to read her for more of a part.’ I said, ‘Whatever you want to do. I want nothing to do with it. I don’t want to pitch my daughter for a part in the movie.’”
But the Last Man Standing alum’s teen daughter “ended up moving to the high ranks” in the cast, he said. “They loved how she read, loved it so much, because she’s playing a 13-year-old girl and she is 13. They ended up casting her as Santa’s daughter. It was a surprise but it became the most amazing experience.”
Joining the Allens in the show’s North Pole family are Eric Lloyd as Scott’s first son, Charlie, and Elizabeth Mitchell as his second wife, Carol. Lloyd appeared in all three movies — 1994’s The Santa Clause, 2002’s The Santa Clause 2, and 2006’s The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause — while Mitchell joined the big-screen franchise in the second installment. Viewers will also catch up with Scott’s second son, Austin — played in the show by Austin Kane — whom he and Carol welcomed at the end of the third movie.
As Disney+ explains in a synopsis of the show, The Santa Clauses catches up with Scott as he nears 65 and realizes he can’t be Santa for much longer. “He’s suddenly starting to lose his Santa magic, 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 North Pole,” the synopsis reads. “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.”
The Santa Clauses, Limited Series Premiere, Wednesday, November 16, Disney+
