Silent Night was certainly one of the surprise hits of 2022. David Harbour‘s ass-kicking, sledgehammer-wielding Santa Claus made quite an impact and has fans asking for more. Fortunately, according to co-writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who penned the Sonic the Hedgehog films, there’s no shortage of ideas for where to take Santa next…including mono a mono with the Easter bunny!
In an interview with SYFY WIRE, Casey and Miller laid out potential plans for prequels and/or sequels to Violent Night. According to Casey and Miller, Violent Night barely scratched the surface in terms of what’s possible for this Santa. The film sets the stage for Santa’s violent dispatching of mercs by explaining he was a Viking once upon a time, but the writing duo believes there’s enough of Santa’s background on the cutting room floor to create a “full-on prequel.”
We used to have more of his backstory in the first one and that got stripped out for pacing. I guess it’ll be a bummer if we never get a sequel, but part of us was was kind of happy because that just leaves more stuff to do in sequels. One thing we’ve learned from the Sonic movies is [that] sometimes painting yourself into a corner for the sequel sucks. Because you’re like, ‘Oh, man! I wish we hadn’t said that one sentence in the earlier movie!
Josh Miller
Miller adds that a prequel might be a little “complicated” in terms of budget and that a sequel is more likely. While they have plenty of ideas for what that might entail, they do seem certain that the next film will include characters cut from Violent Night: Santa’s elves and Mrs. Claus. Miller explained that “elves were part of our pitch,” for Violent Night, but explained that budgetary restraints around creating the North Pole led to them being cut from the film. That’s not stopping these idea men, however. According to Casey, if they do get to make a sequel “the elves are gonna be great.” Mrs. Claus was also originally in the film, including in a scene that Casey described as a “helicopter versus flying sleigh dogfight.” Ultimately, a casualty of the budget, Mrs. Claus will be back but according to Miller, she won’t quite fit the traditional depiction of the character. “The Vikings went down to Africa,” said the writer. “They discovered North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus, ‘discovered it. So really, the sky’s the limit for who could play Mrs. Claus because who’s to say at what point in his past he met her and where?“
Whatever direction potential sequels may take, the writers assure that they will have the same 80’s-inspired, over-the-top action. Violent Night‘s action beats were heavily influenced by Die Hard, a film that has been considered an alt-christmas classic for quite some time. According to Miller, their vision for the Violent Night franchise includes more of what worked so well in the first film.
There are so many movies that influenced Die Hard and that Die Hard influenced, that I think the special sauce of the franchise is always finding that weird middle ground of where Christmas movie tropes can kind of intersect with classic ‘80s/‘90s action movie tropes
Josh Miller
If you haven’t seen Violent Night, you can check out our full review here and still catch it in theaters now.
Source: SYFY WIRE
