EXCLUSIVE: Kristen Bell and Daniela Melchior are set to join David Harbour in the cast of Violent Night 2 for Universal Pictures and 87North. Tommy Wirkola will direct the film from a screenplay by Pat Casey and Josh Miller. Universal Pictures will release Violent Night 2 on Wednesday, December 4, 2026.
While exact plot details are under wraps, Harbour’s ass-kicking Santa Clause is back. And he’s not happy.
The 2022 bare-knuckle holiday sensation, Violent Night, followed an embittered Santa Harbour), armed with lethal combat skills, who takes out a team of ruthless mercenaries to rescue a girl and her family. Now, it’s time for not-so-jolly Saint Nick to suit up again.
Violent Night 2 will be produced by 87North founders Kelly McCormick and David Leitch through their first look deal with Universal Pictures. .Universal’s Executive Vice President of Production Development Matt Reilly and Director of Development Tony Ducret will oversee the project for the Studio.
Following breakout roles in The Suicide Squad and Fast X, Melchior most recently co-starred in the Amazon MGM Studios reimagining of Road House opposite Jake Gyllenhaal. Her upcoming slate includes Balls Up, a new comedy directed by Academy Award winner Peter Farrelly (Green Book), in which she stars alongside Mark Wahlberg. She has also been cast in Sony Pictures’ reboot of Anaconda, joining a standout ensemble that includes Jack Black and Paul Rudd.
Bell most recently starred in the highly acclaimed Netflix comedy series, Nobody Wants This, alongside Adam Brody, in which she also serves as an executive producer. Recent acting credits include leading roles in the Amazon Prime comedy film The People We Hate at the Wedding, alongside Allison Janney and Ben Platt and Netflix’s parody comedy The Woman in the House. Bell is set to reprise her role as ‘Joanne’ in Season 2 of Nobody Wants This.
She also starred in the NBC series The Good Place, opposite Ted Danson, the animated Amazon children’s series Do, Re, & Mi, and STX Film’s couponing adventure Queenpins. In 2019 Bell reprised her role as ‘Anna’ in Frozen 2, which has earned over $1.45 billion, surpassing the $1.2 billion Frozen earned worldwide.
Bell served as an executive producer in the highly successful revival of the Los Angeles production of Reefer Madness The Musical.
Bell is represented by CAA. Melchior is represented by Gersh, Brave Artists Management and Felker Toczek Suddleson
