Violent Night was a surprising, fun-filled action flick with equal parts holiday cheer and impactful violence. David Harbour’s rough-and-tumble Santa Claus reminded us exactly what the holidays are for — by busting heads and sipping scotch, all while utilizing the cheery character for a variety of creative fight scenes. It marks director Tommy Wirkola's most recent feature and given its success with commercial audiences, you can bet that a sequel is already on the cards. In fact, it was confirmed in January 2023 that Violent Night 2 is happening with the same writers and director. In August 2023, David Harbour gave a promising update for Violent Night 2.

The original film took quite a few creative liberties with the character of Santa Claus, introducing a handful of ideas that allude to the character's lengthy history — including his blood-soaked origins. However, the first film more closely followed the conflict between the members of a rich family, with Santa Claus' involvement being relegated to saving them while regaining the Christmas spirit. Should we see Violent Night 2 happen, what exactly do we want to see from the skull-splitting Santa Claus?

Update December 9, 2023: This article has been updated with even more ideas of what we hope to see in the upcoming Violent Night sequel, including some picks for Mrs. Claus and also a crossover with another holiday horror franchise.

David Harbor Returning as Santa

It’s hard to deny that David Harbour’s Santa Claus stole the show in Violent Night. Starting out as a disinterested drunkard, we gradually see Santa’s interest in the holiday rekindled through the classic trope of a child’s passion for the season. Of course, it helps that he got to spread some holly jolly beatings to those on the naughty list.

Underneath the booze, the violence, and the oodles of blood, there’s a genuinely interesting interpretation of the character. A Santa that seemingly doesn’t understand how his own modern depiction functions is an intriguing look at the character. There's a mystical nature to the character that was seemingly assigned to him without his own knowledge. It sounds silly to think about, considering it's Santa Claus, but it's still a unique take on the classic character. Combine that with the brief glimpses we get into Santa's historical past as Nikamund the Red, a hulking Viking warrior who once reveled in bloodlust on the battlefield, and you have a character that's prime material to be explored in future films.

There's a lot we simply don't know about Santa Claus. An estranged relationship with Mrs. Claus is suggested several times throughout, and she even gifts him his old "Skull Splitter" hammer at the end of the film, but beyond his re-evaluation of the holiday, we really don't get to see what he's all about. Hopefully, we'll get to see more of him — and David Harbour, specifically — in Violent Night 2.

Mrs. Claus might be the best character to introduce in the sequel. Similar to how The Santa Clause 2 brought in Mrs. Claus, bringing in Santa's wife as the major character for Violent Night 2 could be a good way to expand the franchise. She could maybe become the new lead of the series, with Santa having a supporting role. It opens the door for some fun casting decisions on who could play Mrs. Claus to David Harbour's Santa. Hannah Waddingham? Catherine Tate? Eva Longoria? Angelina Jolie? Marion Cottilard? Those are just a few names that we think could be a great Mrs. Claus.

More Holiday-Themed Mayhem

While we got some fun set pieces in the first Violent Night film, from a handful of Home Alone homages to a few fights involving Santa Claus’ magic, the rest of the film’s action scenes relied more on Santa swinging a giant sledgehammer around. It’s still entertaining and was foreshadowed well enough, but it’s a little lacking compared to what the film promises early on. Should we see Violent Night 2 take a similarly violent edge, we want the holiday to have a bigger impact on its kills. After all, isn’t that why we watched the first one to begin with?

Santa's sleigh and reindeer, for instance, are swept away for a majority of the film, only ever appearing to bookend Santa's brawl at the house. You'd think that with a dozen muscle-bound magical reindeer, there would be room for at least one action sequence featuring them kicking and biting a group of mercenaries. Imagine the hilarity of seeing an airborne Santa with a mounted machine gun on his sleigh, raining bullets down as if they were frenzied snowflakes.

Director Tommy Wirkola has stated his desire to expand the world and scope that was introduced in the first film, citing material like Mrs. Claus, the North Pole, and even Santa's elves being left behind on the cutting room floor. Violent Night 2 will hopefully capitalize on the opportunity it's been given to utilize these elements in creating an even more zany action film compared to its predecessor.

Even More Holiday Characters

A holiday-themed film faces an interesting challenge when tasked with a sequel. Should it double down on the holiday it's now associated with, or try something new? A similar situation occurred with the Christopher-Meloni-led SyFy series Happy!, where the second season instead focused on Easter instead of the snowy holiday. But even if Violent Night takes place around December once again, who's to say that we can't see more holiday characters appear?

Maybe the Elf on a Shelf could come down from above the fireplace and knock some heads around. Maybe as Santa's powers become stronger, he could utilize his magic to bring toys to life or fashion gingerbread men into powerful allies. If you're willing to shrug and not justify any of Santa's abilities the first time around, why not go completely wild with it in the sequel? The Violent Night writers said they want to do many sequels and are hoping to get pretty unhinged with it, so anything could happen.

References to More Action and Holiday Films

Christmas action movies are a popular subgenre, and Violent Night pulls a lot from two popular films in that subgenre: Die Hard and Home Alone. What if Violent Night 2 tapped into tropes from some other action movies, holiday-themed or otherwise? Maybe someone kidnapped Mrs. Claus, and Santa has to fully go into Taken mode? Or roles could be reversed — another mythical, somewhat immortal being wanting revenge on Santa for his Nikamund the Red Days could kidnap him, prompting Mrs. Claus to embark on an epic, action-packed journey to bring her man back to the North Pole in one piece. Who wouldn't want to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus fighting baddies back-to-back in the final act of the film?

A John-Wick-type plot would be an interesting one to see for Violent Night 2 as well. If a villain kills Santa's favorite reindeer (rest in peace, Rudolph), Santa would undoubtedly go on a rampage of vengeance.

Perhaps tributes to other holiday films could be the sequels' jumping-off point. Maybe a new hotshot tries to take Santa's place, like Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Viewers could watch a Santa-on-Santa fight — and of course, David Harbour's Santa would reign superior while wielding his trusty sledgehammer. Or the estranged father-son angle of Elf could be explored. Santa could have a secret kid out in the world, just waiting for the day that his dad picks him up in the sleigh and teaches him how to fight.

Santa V. Krampus

This is a wild idea, but it could be a gold mine. Another major player could be Santa's dark counterpart, Krampus. Krampus has already gotten his own holiday movie, and much like Violent Night, it was distributed by Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures owns the rights to both Violent Night and Krampus and could pit the two holiday characters in a Freddy vs. Jason-style showdown event, making a crossover film that works as a sequel to both movies, melding action and horror together.

Are some of these ideas terrible? Sure, you could say that. But then again, this is a Santa-themed action movie directed by the same person that previously directed two comical Nazi zombie films. Judging from how audiences enjoyed the first film enough to justify a sequel, we can only hope that Violent Night 2 will up the ante and show off the kind of zaniness only a festive action flick could muster.

Stream Violent Night on Prime Video