Macaulay Culkin eyes Home Alone return after his sequel pitch sparks development

Here we go, time to dust off your favourite Christmas jumper: Macaulay Culkin might finally be gearing up to reprise his most iconic character, Kevin McCallister, after more than three decades away from booby traps and aftershave mishaps. Yes, Home Alone could actually be coming back, but this time with the original star leading the mayhem as an adult—if Disney gets its way.

Culkin, now 45 (time, eh?), has kept himself fairly selective when it comes to roles lately, but recent rumours are swirling that he’s been spotted on the Disney lot pitching a fresh spin on the franchise that made him a household name back in 1990. The original film, swiftly chased by its 1992 sequel, left the rest of the series to blunder on without him, with results ranging from ‘forgettable’ to ‘please stop’. Now, though, Disney is apparently very keen to put Culkin back at the centre of it all.

Belloni said on his podcast The Town: "I got a tip the other day that there was a very interesting sighting on the Disney lot. Macaulay Culkin was there and he's talked about an idea for a new Home Alone and Disney is salivating. They have a good idea. I've talked to people who've heard it and it's a really good idea for a Home Alone reboot with Macaulay Culkin."

What’s the Big Idea?

The word is, the pitch is actually coming straight from Culkin himself. While touring his one-man stage show A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin in 2025, he teased the notion of a return, but under very specific conditions: it’d have to be a genuinely clever premise, not just rehashing paint cans and pizza. Luckily, he’s apparently got a concept that’s just the sort of role-reversal that makes you wonder why it hasn’t happened already.

As Culkin described it during his 2025 show: "I'm either a widower or a divorcee. I'm raising a kid and all that stuff. I'm working really hard, and I'm not really paying enough attention, and the kid is kind of getting miffed at me, and then I get locked out. [Kevin's son] won't let me in… and he's the one setting traps for me."

If you’re keeping track, that means the grown-up Kevin ends up as the one outside the house, facing down a barrage of his own son’s shenanigans. Whether this is the very pitch that’s got Disney execs "salivating" hasn’t been officially confirmed, but the timing matches up suspiciously well: first he floats the idea on tour, then he’s spotted at Disney HQ. No studio announcement yet, but I’d be surprised if a deal isn’t in the works.

Disney's Home Alone Problems

It’s probably not a coincidence that Disney is eyeing a comeback for Culkin, considering what happened last time they tried plugging the Home Alone brand. 2021’s Home Sweet Home Alone was a critical write-off—just a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, which frankly is about what it deserved. Since then, the franchise has been in hibernation. But with Culkin back on board, they’d be mad not to give it another go.

Disney's 2021 effort, Home Sweet Home Alone, managed only a 15% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Worth noting, Culkin’s hardly been lying low these past couple years. He cropped up in Fallout Season 2, lent his voice to Zootopia 2, and popped into American Horror Story for good measure. Oh, and in 2025 he even made a cameo as Kevin in the short, Home But Not Alone, although that was just for an ad campaign rather than a serious sequel.

So, if the buzz around his Disney meetings is true, there's a genuine shot at seeing Kevin McCallister back on screen for a new generation—with or without a hot iron to the face.