Was Patrick Stewart Cut From The Nightmare Before Christmas? Here's The Truth

Forgive my bragging, but I was one of the original "The Nightmare Before Christmas" super-fans. I read its official novelization as soon as I could get my hands on it, and I had listened to its soundtrack many times over prior to the movie's theatrical release on October 29, 1993. But as much as I loved Disney's stop-motion animated holiday classic upon finally seeing it, I certainly noticed that it was missing two noteworthy tracks that I had already partly memorized from its album: Sir Patrick Stewart's opening and closing narration as Santa Claus.

The final cut of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" begins with Ed Ivory, who ultimately voiced Santa in the movie, narrating over a shot of a clearing in a mystical woodland (which is formerly known as the Hinterlands in the film's lore). There, we see a circle of trees containing the doorways (i.e. Holiday Doors) to the various Holiday Towns that, as Ivory's Saint Nick briefly explains, are the sources of several major Western holidays. Each door is shaped like an object strongly associated with a specific holiday, so there's no mistaking where they lead, either. (And yes, the existence of Thanksgiving Town does feel problematic.)

Stewart's opening narration expands on the one in the movie, breaking down its mythos in greater detail while also teasing the plot — itself inspired by a poem Tim Burton wrote during his not-so-happy days working for Walt Disney Animation Studios. But why isn't it in the movie? As "Nightmare Before Christmas" composer/songwriter Danny Elfman's talent agent Richard Kraft revealed on Facebook after Stewart's passing, Elfman "wanted to open and close the soundtrack album with expanded narration that went beyond what was heard in the movie." Fortunately, Kraft was friends with Stewart's agent and was able to get the actor onboard.

Making a stop-motion animated flick is hard enough today, as the folks behind Laika's fantasy epic "Wildwood" could tell you. So, one can only imagine how challenging it was trying to craft "The Nightmare Before Christmas" before the technical innovations of the past 30-plus years. And with every minute of the film's runtime requiring a whole lot of labor and money to render, this meant Tim Burton and his many collaborators had to be ruthless about killing their darlings to maximize the movie's narrative efficiency.

As Henry Selick (who, don't forget, actually directed "The Nightmare Before Christmas," not Burton) told The Daily Beast in an interview for the movie's 20th anniversary in 2013, the role of Santa Claus was "very tough" to cast, with Vincent Price, James Earl Jones, and Don Ameche all being considered or approached for the part before Ed Ivory was hired. Gradually, the character's opening narration was trimmed down as well. "​​Then, later in the film, it was supposed to go to Santa Claus finishing the poem at the film's end, but that didn't work either, so we scrapped it," Selick added.

Luckily, that material was later re-added to the film's soundtrack, with Patrick Stewart bringing it to life. "It was one of those lovely occasions when a friendship helped bring a creative idea to life. And Patrick did a wonderful job, adding his unmistakable voice to an album that has become such a beloved part of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS legacy," as Richard Kraft put it on Facebook. To be sure, it's great that folks can listen to Stewart infuse that prose with all the gravitas and majesty he could muster. Make it your new holiday tradition to honor Sir Patrick.