Brian Cox has been announced to voice Santa Claus in an upcoming Netflix film.

The Succession actor has been announced as part of the cast for That Christmas, an animated film courtesy of Simon Otto (How To Train Your Dragons). That Christmas is reported to be an adaptation of the children’s book series written by award-winning director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Bridget Jones).

Starring alongside Cox will be Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy. Lolly Adefope, Alex Macqueen, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, and more are also set to join.

“Becoming an animator had been on my Christmas wish list ever since I was a child and watching animated movies was one of the biggest Christmas traditions in my family,” said Otto. “But never could I have imagined that one day I would get the chance to direct a Christmas film written by the one-and-only Richard Curtis and collaborate with some of the most iconic voice talents.”

“Watching this cast bring life to these heartwarmingly funny tales and infuse them with the magic of animation is truly a dream come true,” he continued. “I hope ‘That Christmas’ becomes a cherished tradition for audiences worldwide.”

Curtis also added: “This has been the most amazing adventure, my first animated film. It’s been especially exciting to see the whole world I imagined come to life beyond my wildest dreams — and populated by a dream bunch of actors, their wonderful voices turned into such rich and funny characters.”

Variety reports ‘That Christmas’ is due “later this year”.

Recently, Cox said he was open to returning as Succession‘s Logan Roy in a film “if it’s good enough”. However, he also stressed that he felt show creator Jesse Armstrong ended the show at the right time: “What I love about it and what I love about Jesse Armstrong is we don’t go past our sell-by date.”

“A lot of American shows do go past their sell-by dates. We’ve left people wanting. You always want to keep people wanting.”