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Remarkably, the film sees the return of nearly all of Peter Billingsley’s old cast mates from the original film. Scott Schwartz and R.D. Robb return as Ralphie’s old pals Flick and Schwartz respectively. Flick now owns a bar appropriately named Flick’s Tavern, a joint that sees Schwartz frequent as a patron. Ralphie’s brother Randy (Ian Petrella) also makes a few brief appearances. We even get to see Zack Ward reprise his role as the reformed bully Scut Farkus. Now a police officer, Scut has nothing but respect for Ralphie after the beating he gave him when they were kids. Farkus turned over a new leaf long ago and made something of himself.
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Despite all the familiar faces, there are two noticeable absences. The first is Darren McGavin as the Old Man. McGavin died in 2006, so a reprisal was, of course, impossible. The other absence is the original actress who played the role of Ralphie’s mother, Melinda Dillon. Whether she was cleaning Ralphie’s mouth out with soap or scolding her children for not eating their vegetables, Mrs. Parker was the stereotypical matriarch of the era. In this sequel, she’s been replaced by Julie Hagerty since Dillon has long been retired from acting with her final onscreen appearances being in 2007. Some fans took umbrage with the casting, however. Redditor Nobodycares2022 shared, “I didn’t care for the choice of Julie Haggerty to replace the mom. They portrayed the mom in the original as loving, funny smart, and the reasonable one of the family minus a few scenes. The mom character in this movie was just bad in my opinion.” But, of course, that would have more to do with how the character was written than the actress’ portrayal.
