‘Bad Santa 2’ Releases Latest Photographs Featuring Billy Bob Thornton Alongside Former Cast Mates; Christina Hendricks, Kathy Bates Join Sequel

‘Bad Santa 2’ recently released the latest photographs from the film featuring Billy Bob Thornton alongside former cast mates Brett Kelly and Tony Cox. Award winning actresses Christina Hendricks and Kathy Bates are set to join the sequel as well.

New photographs of the upcoming sequel have been released ahead of its scheduled premiere on November. The images posted on Screen Crush featured the return of Thornton as the crude, foul-mouthed, and drunken department store Santa Clause impersonator Willie Soke. He is seen together with a much older Thurman Merman played by Brett Kelly.

According to USA Today, Kelly called his recasting great timing as he recalled having to shift his career focus from the entertainment industry to studies at the university. Kelly, who was cast as the bullied yet lovable Thurman in the original film when he was only eight years old, is set to return as an adult version of the exceedingly naïve, gullible, and overweight boy.

The 22-year old Canadian actor was last seen on the 2010 stoner black comedy film ‘High School’. He also starred in other feature films including 2005’s ‘The Sandlot 2’, 2006’s ‘Unaccompanied Minors’, and 2009’s ‘What Goes Up’.

Kelly began full time studies after starring in ‘High School’. He said, "I’ve been living an extremely normal and boring life. I went to a regular high school, graduated from university, and basically that brings us up to this point… I got the call about Bad Santa 2 literally two days after I finished my last exam. The timing could not have been any better."

Mark Waters is set to direct the upcoming sequel, replacing original director Terry Zwigoff. Waters revealed that Kelly’s role involved getting him to gain 40 pounds. The director recalled, "We said: 'By the way, we’re doing Bad Santa 2. So get in shape, or the opposite of shape… Brett looks like the spitting image of the kid Thurman, but older. When he walked on set, it was even more jaw-dropping in some ways than seeing (Thornton)."

Tony Cox is also returning to play Willie’s dwarfed assistant and partner Marcus. Academy Award winner Kathy Bates has been added to the new cast for the role of Thornton’s on-screen mother Sunny.

Bates’ character is described to be a woman of worse temperament and personality as Willie. She joins her son as they try to scam a Chicago Christmas Eve charity event ran by a prim and proper woman named Diane and her husband.

Emmy award nominee Christina Hendricks joins the new cast as Diane, a seemingly formal and prudish woman who really has a thing for shady lowlifes. Ryan Hansen of ‘Veronica Mars’ fame is set to play her on-screen husband.

‘Bad Santa 2’ is an upcoming comedy film scheduled to be released on November 23, 2016. It is directed by Mark Waters and written for the big screen by Doug Ellin, John Phillips, and Johnny Rosenthal. It is produced under Broad Green Pictures and Miramax.

Its predecessor received positive reviews from critics, with Thornton nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy as well as a Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture for his role as Willie. The film grossed $77.15 million worldwide on a production budget of $18 million.