Warning: Contains spoilers for The Santa Clauses episodes 1 & 2.
Scott Calvin raises a pertinent point about his St. Nick predecessor in The Santa Clauses. As the fourth chapter in The Santa Clause franchise, the Disney+ mini-series The Santa Clauses shows Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) making the major decision to retire as Santa Claus. Scott's decision is made with the intent of building a new life for his wife Carol, aka Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell), and kids Cal (Austin Kane) and Sandra (Elizabeth Allen-Dick) outside of the North Pole, but there are other factors.
Since The Santa Clause movie's timeframe, a rise in cynicism and bad behavior worldwide has caused Scott's magic as Santa to diminish, with Scott even sliding off a roof and only narrowly surviving. After the elves at the North Pole express great relief upon Scott's return, he makes the observation that they did not seem similarly concerned about the last Santa's fate when Scott first arrived at the North Pole in The Santa Clause. In pointing out this disparity in response by the elves out, The Santa Clauses could be preparing viewers for a proper introduction to the last Santa.
Did The Santa Before Scott Really Die In The Santa Clause?
The Santa Clause is surprisingly vague about what became of the Santa before Scott. After being startled by Scott and sliding off the roof, Santa lies motionless in the snow, feebly waving at Scott and Charlie (Eric Lloyd) when their backs are turned, and disappearing off-camera. Per the zany rules of "The Santa Clause", Scott unintentionally takes up Santa's mantle "in putting on the suit and entering the sleigh", but no clear details are ever given for what happened to the other Santa.
"The Santa Clause" stipulates that any new Santa successor is to remain in the role until he can no longer do so "by either accident or design." The "design" part of the contract seemingly includes voluntary retirement upon reaching retirement age as Scott has, but the "accident" part is the most telling for the previous Santa. By vanishing completely with Scott becoming the new Santa in his absence, it seems that the Santa Claus before Scott, unfortunately, did indeed die from his fall.
The Santa Clauses Can Finally Answer A 1994 Movie Question
Scott's perplexity that his elves seem far more concerned about his well-being than the last Santa is indeed a mystery that deserves an explanation. While the elves might strongly dislike Martin Short's Jack Frost, it is hard to imagine the elves had any reason to feel the same about any previous Santa, given he was the jolliest man on Earth. The answer could lie less with the other Santa himself and more with how beloved Scott has become as St. Nick.
As the Easter Bunny (Jay Thomas) points out in The Santa Clause 2, the happiness of children around the world has shot up by 86% since Scott took over as Santa, so the elves might simply have a stronger attachment to him. Even so, the complete absence of any mourning by the elves at the loss of Scott's Santa predecessor raises questions about the elves' relationship with the former Santa. With Scott himself calling attention to this, The Santa Clauses might finally shine a light on who the last Santa Claus was (and may even confirm a theory about Bernard the Elf, too).