Here’s Why You Don’t See Rudolph in ‘The Christmas Chronicles’

Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles may star ’80s action hunk Kurt Russell as a sexy Santa with swagger, but the film is surprisingly reverent of the entire Christmas canon. You get flying reindeer, Scandinavian inspired designs, quirky little elves, a cameo from Mrs. Claus, and explanations for how Santa’s toy sack can carry a planet’s worth of presents and how he can visit millions of homes in one night. You get everything… except for Rudolph!

Once again, Santa’s ninth reindeer has been sidelined in a feature film, even one as stuffed with holiday hijinks as Christmas Chronicles. What gives? Why was Rudolph excluded from The Christmas Chronicles, and why did he also sit out other modern Santa mythologies like Elf and The Santa Clause? It’s not like he’s not needed at some point during Santa’s midnight sleigh ride. It’s gotta be foggy at one place somewhere across the globe! Did headlights finally put Rudy out of a job?

Why isn’t Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in The Christmas Chronicles?

There are a few explanations. The first and most canonical one is that yeah, a headlight may have put Rudolph out of a job. If you pay super close attention to Santa’s sleigh in The Christmas Chronicles, specifically when it first takes flight with Teddy and Kate as stowaways, you’ll notice a little detail that’s a shout out to the ninth reindeer.

There’s a tiny red headlight on the front, just under hood ornament shaped like a reindeer. Wow, what a detail! You’ll notice, however, that the red light is underneath the reindeer and not on the top of his snout where it should be. That’s probably because unlike Santa’s OG reindeer, Rudolph is copyrighted.

Reindeer were first introduced into the Santa mythology almost 200 years ago in a poem. 1821’s Old Santeclaus with Much Delight included one reindeer, and then Clement C. Moore octupled that number with A Visit from St. Nicholas (a.k.a. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas) in 1823. That poem gave the eight reindeer their names: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder (or Donner), and Blixem (or Blitzen). Those original eight reindeer are an integral part of the Santa folklore and predate Rudolph’s introduction by 100 years. They’re also part of the public domain, which is why those eight pop up everywhere no problem.

And then there’s Rudolph.

Rudolph was created in 1939 as an advertisement for a department store! Robert L. May penned the original Rudolph story as a giveaway for shoppers at Montgomery Ward. Since this work was created as part of what was essentially an advertising campaign, it was expected that Montgomery Ward would retain Rudolph’s rights. Call it a Christmas miracle, but that didn’t happen! The president of Montgomery Ward allowed the red-nosed reindeer’s creator to keep the rights, and they have remained with the May family ever since. That’s why the only time you see Rudolph in movies or TV are when the special is focused specifically on Rudolph.

So Rudolph didn’t appear in The Christmas Chronicles because it would have presumably cost money and a lot of time negotiating in order to make that happen. But hey–at least they worked in a nice nod to Rudy.

Stream The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix