Who can forget the classic story of “A Christmas Carol,” with characters so iconic they’ve become veritable archetypes: Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim…Santa Claus.

Wait, what? “You don’t remember Santa Claus?” 12-year-old actress Sammi Hanratty squealed when we caught up with her at a recent red carpet. “It was in the movie; you have to watch it again!”

The world at my fingertips and, for the life of me, I can’t find a single adaptation of Dickens’ classic novel that includes any mention of ole St. Nick. But that’s all gonna change when Robert Zemeckis brings his interpretation to the big-screen next year, Hanratty insisted.

“I play the character ‘Want,’ [of] ‘Want and Greed.’ They are the evil characters hidden in Santa’s coat,” she explained of one of her many roles in the upcoming motion-capture film. “Jim Carrey plays Santa Claus. He’s like 16 different characters.”

Could the young starlet be confusing Santa Claus with the Ghost of Christmas Present, who in many versions of the tale looks astoundingly like Father Christmas? Maybe, but then, inserting Kris Kringle into the festivities wouldn’t be beyond Zemeckis’ twisted genius.

And that’s exactly the way Jim Carrey likes it, the comedian enthused.

“I love that process and Zemeckis is awesome,” Carrey gushed. “He’s just one of the greatest. I mean, he is the king of all nerds. I got the suit with dots on it and we’re in the middle of a warehouse with cameras from ceiling to floor and you just have to create the whole thing in your head.”

Was Hanratty creating something in her head? Or is there a way Santa could appear in “A Christmas Carol”? Let us know your theories below.