Home Alone’s Kevin McAllister makes a poignant comeback

‘Home But Not Alone’ is touted as the return of Home Alone’s Kevin McAllister, and it’s quite a different vibe from his Google appearance in 2018, we might note.

It’s Christmas 2025, and Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister is back. This time, though, the burglars have been swapped for something scarier: the creeping anxiety of your mum getting older.

‘Home But Not Alone’, created by FCB Chicago for in‑home senior care brand Home Instead, sees a grown‑up Kevin obsessively booby‑trapping his mother’s house against everyday risks such as plastic-wrapped furniture. Quite the curveball from his days swinging paint cans from the staircase.

Directed by Jody Hill, the film plays the joke deadpan until Kevin realises that his hyper-vigilance isn’t enough; he needs actual help, which is where Home Instead’s carers come in.

The spot is timed to the 35th anniversary of Home Alone and leans hard into the iconography: the familiar house, and a cameo from Old Man Marley’s granddaughter carrying his shovel, as well as his timeless Christmas message.

It runs as a 60-second hero film (‘Granddaughter Marley’), cut into shorter executions across holiday programming and, naturally, Home Alone broadcasts.

Our take

Culkin has been on a bit of a reunion tour with his resourceful-if-twisted ‘Home Alone’ character in recent years, with various Google appearances and now this Home outing timing perfectly with our insatiable obsession with the 90s and its cultural artefacts.

Christmas is a time for forgiving a bit of weaponised nostalgia, and overall, the wry humour of watching an overprotective, middle-aged Kevin cling to his old tricks is balanced by a seasonally sentimental message about ageing parents.