After years of tense battle, the War on Christmas may well end in a bloody melee of looting, pillaging, and presents with the deployment of Viking Santa, the subject of the new Sony film Winter’s Knight. As reported by Deadline, Kon-Tiki’s Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg are expected to build on their current franchise momentum—which began with their taking over the next Pirates Of The Caribbean—by helming a new script that explores the “Viking-mythology-tinged” origins of Santa Claus, telling the tale of how Father Christmas, a variant of the Norse god Odin, came to rule with a mighty fist over Asgard and the frozen pagan world, then started making toys in exchange for cookies.
Unlike other Santa Claus stories, such as the Finnish horror-fantasy Rare Exports or whatever Megyn Kelly says, Winter’s Knight isn’t totally out there: As noted, Santa has roots in Norse mythology, and the movie will combine those with elements from The Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus by Wizard Of Oz author L. Frank Baum, whose public domain works continue to bring gifts to all Hollywood’s boys and girls. And besides, if there’s one thing that can probably convince your kids to obey the rather arbitrary naughty-or-nice rules of Santa Claus, it’s making him an ass-kicking Viking.