It’s time to play the music and light the lights because The Muppet Show is back with the help of Seth Rogen and guest star Sabrina Carpenter. Earlier this month, news broke that a Seth Rogen-produced revival of The Muppet Show would begin filming after a pilot received a tax credit from the California Film Commission. Now, some new details have emerged about the plans for Jim Henson’s iconic franchise, which should hopefully get fans and people with no affinity for the franchise excited.
Deadline reports that Rogen is writing and producing a Muppet Show special that will air on Disney+ in 2026 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original Muppet Show. Sabrina Carpenter will serve as the special guest star for the episode, keeping in The Muppet Show tradition of featuring a human guest, which Kermit often introduces in the opening song. If the series is a hit, it will serve as a backdoor pilot for a full reboot of The Muppet Show.
Seth Rogen & Sabrina Carpenter Are Who ‘The Muppets’ Need
Seth Rogen feels like the ideal person to revive The Muppets franchise. Not only is he coming hot off four Emmy wins for The Studio, but his work on titles like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has shown he has a special affinity for putting fresh new takes on long-established IP. Sabrina Carpenter is also an inspired pick for the guest. Carpenter not only has a working history with Disney, having co-starred on Girl Meets World, but she is also a Grammy-winning superstar musician with a dedicated fan base. Even audience members who might not have any interest in The Muppets might tune in just to see Sabrina Carpenter.
Rogen’s Freaks and Geeks co-star Jason Segel previously revived the franchise for Disney in 2011 with the legacy sequel simply titled The Muppets. The movie received positive reviews from critics and was a box office hit, but Disney struggled to maintain the franchise momentum as the sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, was a box office disappointment. The 2016 single-camera workplace comedy The Muppets, which aired on ABC, only lasted one season and was widely criticized by long-time fans of the franchise. While 2021’s Disney+ special The Muppets Haunted Mansion was well-received, Disney’s latest series The Muppets Mayhem was canceled after one season in 2023.
Many have criticized Disney’s handling of The Muppets franchise in the past few years. The decision to close Muppet*Vision 3D in Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier this summer was widely criticized due to it being the last project Muppets creator Jim Henson worked on before his passing. Yet bringing on Seth Rogen to revive The Muppet Show indicates Disney realizes the importance of the characters and is trusting a new generation of comedic voices to breathe life into them. There is no shortage of Muppets fans in Hollywood who would love to be part of a revival, either as writers or guest stars.
