Ralphie, Flick, and Shwartz are returning once again! While most sequels tend to recast to cater to the time jump, A Christmas Story Christmas is bringing the cast back from the original 1983 feature. The story will follow our favorite characters into adulthood as Ralphie returns to his home on Cleveland Street. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Peter Billingsley talks about reuniting with the cast after 40 years and elaborated on the themes of the modernized sequel of the holiday season classic A Christmas Story.
A Christmas Story Christmas will see a now 51-year-old Ralphie returning home after his father’s passing, he's now responsible to give his children a magical Christmas, just as he had as a kid. We’ll also see him rekindling old friendships. Billingsley discusses reconnecting with the cast from the original movie, “It was a lot of fun to think, 'Ok, what would Flick and Shwartz be like 30 years later.'" The new feature sees the return of Scott Schwartz as Flick, R.D. Robb as Schwartz, Zack Ward as Scut, and Ian Petrella as Randy.
Billingsley believes that the audience will certainly enjoy not only getting the old characters back “but the same people that played them, and I think that's one of the things that makes the movie feel special and feels like you're right back in the world. These are all the same actors." Further elaborating on the themes of the sequel, the actor says that the movie is “very much about Ralphie going home.” Meaning it will evoke the same nostalgia that many of us feel while going back home for the holiday season, “in going home you sort of unpack memories, you unpack the past a little bit, it’s something we can all relate to," Billingsley said. Adding:
“As you step back, it's sort of an emotional way in, that notion of going home. Did you measure up? Did you become who you said you would become when you left? And, you're sort of walking through a lot of the past."
Going back to Cleveland Street also means that the audience will see a lot of Easter eggs and will laugh once again on various incidences that made us laugh in the original feature like a new triple dog dare! The actor further revealed that “the balance was much more heavily weighted on creating a new story for Ralphie, he's a dad. His life is not really in the place that he wants, and he goes home and has to deliver to his kids a Christmas like he had growing up." It will certainly be interesting to see how it all plays out when the film is released.
A Christmas Story Christmas premieres November 17 on HBO Max. You can check out the trailer below: