Santa Claus is coming to Hulu.
On Monday, global media agency UM and indie development and production studio Traverse32 announced that Dear Santa, The Series, a six-episode spinoff of the agency’s award-winning Dear Santa documentary, is coming to Hulu.
Like the documentary, the series focuses on the United States Postal Service’s Operation Santa program. Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa arrive at post offices all over America, and through the Operation Santa program, the USPS has made it possible for these letters to be adopted by generous “adopter elves” looking to make holiday wishes come true.
Directed by Dana Nachman and produced by Nachman, Christopher Karpenko, Chelsea Matter, Travers32’s Brendan Gaul and Brett Henenberg, the docuseries shares the huge undertaking through the eyes of letter writers, USPS “mail elves” and others that help Santa meet his holiday delivery schedule. The episodes feature stories from the everyday people who adopt Santa’s letters and the USPS employees who have been the foundation of the program.
“We love that America has embraced the story of our Operation Santa, a program that is powered by the hearts, efforts and dedication of the many postal workers and ‘elves’ who make magic happen for thousands of children and the underserved each year. People perform acts of kindness with no expectations. The Postal Service is proud that what started out as a handful of letters to Santa 110 years ago, is a widespread American holiday tradition,” Christopher Karpenko, USPS executive director of brand marketing, said in a statement.
Among its accolades, the Dear Santa documentary won Best Documentary Premiere at the 2021 Heartland International Film Festival, the Tribeca X Award for Best Feature at the 2021 Tribeca Festival and Best Use of Long-form Film at the 2021 Adweek Brand Storytelling Awards.
“The evolution of Dear Santa from a film that appeared in theatres at the height of the pandemic to a new national docuseries, with distribution on Hulu, has been extraordinary. We cannot underscore how truly honored we are that the United States Postal Service has continued to entrust us to share just some of the many magical stories of all of those who annually make Operation Santa possible,” Gaul, global CCO, Mediabrands and global president, Traverse32, said in a statement.