Disney+’s Home Sweet Home Alone is bringing the Home Alone franchise back for a new generation of viewers, but how does it connect to the Macaulay Culkin-starring original movies? Home Sweet Home Alone is the latest iteration of the beloved series, which began with 1990's Home Alone. This became an unexpectedly massive financial success upon arrival in cinemas and starred Macaulay Culkin as precocious antihero Kevin McCallister. Home Alone told the simple story of a spoiled boy who grew up and learned the value of family when the rest of his clan left for a holiday without him.

Of course, Home Alone also featured a more action-packed subplot about a pair of comically inept thieves attempting to burgle Kevin’s suburban home. These attempted invasions resulted in the child effectively becoming a PG-rated version of Die Hard’s John McClane as Kevin armed himself and protected his home from the intruders, a plot revisited in the successful 1992 sequel. Later movies in the Home Alone franchise did not bring back Culkin, with the third and fifth installments focusing on new characters, though Kevin - played by Mike Weinberg - did return for the poorly received TV movie Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House.

Related: Home Alone Reboot's Original Movie Cameo Explained (& Why It's Genius)

Now, Disney+ is rebooting the franchise with Home Sweet Home Alone, a new adventure set in the same universe as the Macaulay Culkin Home Alone movies judging by the fact that Kevin’s brother Buzz is seen in the trailer. Where Home Alone 3 and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist outright ignored the original movies, Home Sweet Home Alone’s controversial trailer makes it clear via the legacy character’s brief cameo that this reboot has canonical connections to the Culkin movies. However, Culkin himself claimed via Twitter that he doesn’t appear in Home Sweet Home Alone and, outside of Devin Ratray’s Buzz, the promotional materials don’t promise appearances from any other McCallister family members.

Buzz McCallister Home Sweet Home Alone

With an ensemble cast including actors like Catherine O’Hara and Kieran Culkin, the first two Home Alone movies feature a diverse range of actors who could potentially return for Home Sweet Home Alone, since the reboot shares the same continuity as the originals. However, these stars may be too busy or not be interested in reprising their roles. For his part, Culkin’s recent commitments to American Horror Story: Double Feature may have been to blame for his absence, or the actor might have anticipated the angry reaction that Home Sweet Home Alone earned online.

Whatever the case, viewers can be assured that the presence of Ratray’s Buzz does mean that Home Sweet Home Alone is canonically connected to the original Culkin movies. Unlike Home Alone 4, the reboot does not star a new version of Kevin McCallister but rather reintegrates at least one existing character from the original Home Alone movies. Whether this will be enough for the viewers left unhappy by the movie’s trailer, however, remains to be seen when Home Sweet Home Alone arrives on Disney+.

More: American Horror Story Perfectly Reverses Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone Role