Will Ferrell reveals if he’ll ever reprise his beloved role as Buddy the Elf

In October 2021, legendary actor Will Ferrell was asked why he turned down a massive paycheck to reprise his iconic role as Buddy the Elf in the hit holiday classic, “Elf.”

While talking with The Hollywood Reporter, Ferrell admitted that he didn’t think “Elf 2” would be a good idea despite the $29 million he was reportedly offered.

“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place,” Ferrell said at the time, “which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.’”

After reading the script, Ferrell said, “I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”

Three years later, the idea of a sequel was shared with Ferrell again. While promoting his new film, “Will & Harper,” his co-star Harper Steele revealed she would like to see Ferrell reprise his role as Buddy the Elf.

But as E! News reports, even Steele knows that would be a bad idea.

“I’d only like to see him do ‘Elf’ again just to torture him because he’s not, he can’t do it,” Steele joked. “It would be, it would be a horror movie at this point if Will did ‘Elf.’”

Much like he did in 2021, Ferrell admitted he thought “Elf” would be the demise of his career. But 20 years later, it’s still a major “pop culture obsession.”

When asked how he feels about the obsession surrounding “Elf” to this day, Ferrell said, “Well, very much similar to the moment in this film when we sat on the beach in Santa Monica and Josh (Greenbaum) had called wrap and we were walking back to our cars going, ‘Boy, that was a blast. I don’t know if there’s a movie there.’”

“It’s the same way I felt about Elf,” Ferrell continued. “I’m sitting in my tights in my dressing room staring at myself in the mirror going, ‘What did, what did I do? This better work or I’m done.’”