Development By April 2019,
Marvel Studios was developing a
Disney+ series starring
Jeremy Renner's
Clint Barton / Hawkeye from the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, in which Barton would bequeath the mantle of Hawkeye to
Kate Bishop. In July 2020,
Rhys Thomas was hired to direct three episodes of
Hawkeye. Thomas executive produces with series'
head writer Jonathan Igla alongside Marvel Studios'
Brad Winderbaum,
Trinh Tran,
Victoria Alonso,
Louis D'Esposito, and
Kevin Feige. The sixth episode, titled "So This Is Christmas?", was written by Igla and Elisa Climent, and was released on December 22, 2021. The full performance of "Save the City" from
Rogers: The Musical was featured as a
mid-credits scene for the episode. Thomas explained that he had been unaware of its inclusion, since it was not the initial plan to include it, and was "slightly conflicted about" its inclusion given he had felt the slot was being reserved for a scene to tease another MCU project, but understood it ended up being "a fun release at the end, and a nice way to send people off".
Writing To get back into his character
Wilson Fisk since the
Marvel Television series
Daredevil (2015–2018),
Vincent D'Onofrio used emotional events from his personal life and found what would work well for Fisk's emotions, saying "with Fisk, I just speak the authors' words through events that have happened in life, like we have all have, that make us happy or sad". The idea for Fisk to wear the Hawaiian shirt from the "Family Business"
story arc in the comics came from D'Onofrio collaborating with the costume department after he had the image of Fisk in the outfit as his computer wallpaper since he started doing
Daredevil. Thomas had described the fight scene between Barton and
Yelena Belova "a tough one to toggle as well". He wanted the fight choreography to be influenced by the character's emotions, and had described Belova's approach to the fight as "with a mission in mind and almost like a clean sense of justice", while also noting that Barton had a similar motivation in the past. He also added that Barton was willing to die as "there's that sense that, if that's what has to happen for her and for him to perhaps find peace within such thing, you sense that he's at that point where he's come to peace with it".
Casting The episode stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye,
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop,
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova,
Tony Dalton as
Jack Duquesne,
Fra Fee as
Kazi, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin,
Alaqua Cox as
Maya Lopez,
Aleks Paunovic as Ivan,
Piotr Adamczyk as Thomas,
Linda Cardellini as
Laura Barton, and
Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop. Also appearing are Ava Russo as Lila Barton, Ben Sakamoto as Cooper Barton, Cade Woodward as Nathaniel Barton, Clayton English as Grills,
Carlos Navarro as Enrique, Ivan Mbakop as Detective Caudle, Franco Castan as Detective Rivera, Adetinpo Thomas as Wendy, Robert-Walker Branchaud as Orville, Adelle Drahos as Missy, Brian Troxell as Gary, and Jonathan Bergman as Armand Duquesne VII. D'Onofrio was asked by Feige in early 2021 to return as Fisk, which he called extremely exciting and that he was surprised to get the call to return.
Design The episode's main-on-end title sequence was designed by
Perception. During production, the team had scouted the filming locations for Rockefeller Plaza and had rebuilt the area for filming. They had built a full-size ice rink, with the upper half being located in Atlanta while the other half was located in the Plaza.
Filming Filming began in early December 2020 in New York City, including at the
Lotte New York Palace Hotel. Additional filming took place at
Trilith Studios and
Tyler Perry Studios in
Atlanta, Georgia. Some scenes from the episode were filmed towards the beginning of production. The production team had filmed a majority of the scenes in the episode in
Rockefeller Plaza, with Thomas describing it as a "focal point". The fight scene between Belova and Barton was filmed in one night, with minimal rehearsal on the overall composition of the scene. D'Onofrio's scenes were filmed in secrecy, with D'Onofrio and his stunt doubles being concealed with clothing on set when arriving.
Music A portion of the track "Trading Judgement" from
Daredevil: Season 3 (Original Soundtrack Album), composed by
John Paesano, is reused when Fisk first appears in the episode. == Marketing ==