Peter Billingsley explains why the time was right for 'A Christmas Story Christmas'

"A Christmas Story," the 1983 classic holiday hit, is as ubiquitous as Mariah Carey every December. Now fans can see Ralphie as an adult in a new movie.

Peter Billingsley, who starred as Ralphie in the original and plays him as a grown man in HBO Max's "A Christmas Story Christmas," explained to Collider what took so long to do a sequel.

Billinglsey, who also produced the film, said, "I mean, it's been 39 years, so it's quite a long time. So I think, to some degree, now or never. I think the idea of Ralphie as a dad was a very intriguing thought."

He admitted there's been a desire to revive the characters in the past.

"I had been approached about things. Nothing ever felt right," he said. "This one's been in active development for four years and a lot of the right pieces had to come together. We really needed the resources to build the original house and the whole neighborhood."

Getting to collaborate with his friend Vince Vaughn as a co-producer helped seal the deal.

"I got to work with Vince ... which was awesome and bring back the whole kid cast," he said. "So, it's been a while that we've been working on it and we didn't feel comfortable saying yes till all the right pieces fell ... and then we said, 'OK, we have the confidence that this was the time to go now.'"

Vaughn said he knew his friend was "reluctant" to go for a sequel because he sees that "every Christmas the fandom for Pete, and the awareness, is so high" but he felt there was something new brought to the table for the sequel.

"Pete's always so smart with film and collaborating and coming up with ideas, so to see him really be the leader on this and to take it, and for the movie to turn out as exceptional as it has, the movie's just terrific," he said. "I think there's something in waiting."

He added, "It doesn't feel like it's just like, 'Hey, how do we trade on what worked?' It's its own new story that feels like a proper evolution. That's what's so exciting about it."

"A Christmas Story Christmas" debuts Nov. 17 on HBO Max.