A Christmas Story Christmas: Peter Billingsley returns in first-look images from the upcoming sequel

A Christmas Story remains one of the more beloved holiday classics, and it’s set to receive a sequel close to forty years after its original release. The 1983 film took place in the 1940s and followed nine-year-old Ralphie as he desperately wanted a Red Ryder BB rifle for Christmas. A Christmas Story Christmas will take place 33 years after the original movie and find Peter Billingsley reprising his iconic role. People have gotten a first look at the Christmas Story sequel with a handful of images.

More images from the Christmas Story sequel can be found on People. The new movie follows the now grown-up Ralphie, who is a struggling writer and father of two who returns to his childhood home on Cleveland Street for the holidays after the unexpected death of his own father. While speaking with People, Peter Billingsley said that his character isn’t “really where he wants to be in his life but he’s still a dream, so he still has these fantasies of what his life could be, where it could go. And then he’s called home with some real responsibilities and burdens.” Billingsley is also all too aware that continuing a story many fans believe to be “borderline sacred” is an important responsibility. While the Christmas Story sequel is different, it follows the same tone as the original.

The one word we used a lot was ‘tone.’ The first [movie] has such an interesting, unique tone. It’s not the perfect family. They’re hostile at times, they’re loving and then there’s this interesting voiceover and this reverence and some pretty adult things that Ralphie’s having to go through… It feels very real, so we really wanted this to feel very much real, as well. And I think that idea of going home felt like there was a lot there to return home [to].

As for why Peter Billingsley felt it was finally the right moment to return for A Christmas Story sequel, he said that having his own kids made him feel ready to tackle fatherhood on screen as well. “A lot of people have said, ‘Why now?’ for this movie, and definitely being a father in real life [paralleled] being able to channel being a father in A Christmas Story Christmas,” Billingsley said.

A Christmas Story Christmas will debut on HBO Max on November 17th.