ET returns to earth to reunite with his friend Elliot in Sky's 2019 Christmas advert, 37 years after the hit movie first landed on the big screen.
The broadcaster unveiled its 2019 Christmas advert, which sees ET meet up with Henry Thomas who played Elliot in the original movie, on Thursday afternoon.
The two-minute Christmas short story debuted online at Sky.com and on social media and will air in ad breaks on Sky channels from 9pm.
In the clip, ET meets a grown-up Elliot and his young family – including a wife and two children – as the alien gets introduced to new technology and learns how much it has changed since the last time they saw each other.
Elliot cries out “You came back?!” after his kids discover the alien hiding behind a snowman in their yard.
After introducing him to his brood, Elliott welcomes E.T. indoors where they school him on virtual reality, the internet and Christmas movies.
Later on, in the middle of the night E.T points out that he needed to go back home – just like the 1982 movie.
The broadcaster said in a statement: “We are honoured to be able to bring back these characters for our customers.
“We hope that seeing the story of E.T. and Elliott’s family inspires families to spend more time together this Christmas, and gives them the opportunity to share the magic of E.T. again, 37 years after the original.”
Sky’s UK and Ireland CEO enthused: “It’s an honour to bring E.T. back to Earth in this new festive short story, helping us to celebrate the magic of family time at Christmas and Sky’s part in bringing our customers together at this special time of year.”
Meanwhile, Sky’s Director enthused: “More than anything, the whole story is about family.”
The advert, which joins festive offerings from the likes of John Lewis, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer, is a reunion that's worth three million light years of travel.
