The Muppet Show Trailer: Sabrina Carpenter Helps Kermit And Co Relight The Lights In Disney+ Special

Despite being beloved pop culture icons, The Muppets have struggled to reach their most sensational best in recent years. Since The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted movies gave the felt friends a big-screen comeback over a decade ago, a slew of middling small-screen follow-ups — The Office style mockumentary The Muppets, Muppets Now, The Muppets Mayhem — have led fans to wonder, well, what’s next for Kermit and co? The answer: The Muppet Show! Yes, the gang are going back to The Muppet Theatre (now with added Sabrina Carpenter) in a new special masterminded by The Studio duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — and if the first trailer’s anything to go by, then this could be the start of a new golden age for our puppet pals. Check it out below;

“We’re so excited to be back where it all started, and then ended, and then is maybe starting again depending on how tonight goes,” announces Kermit the Frog at the top of this new Muppet Show trailer, setting the tongue-in-cheek tone for the gang’s latest comeback. (It’s worth noting that this is very much intended as a backdoor pilot for a new run of The Muppet Show in its original variety show format.) And from there it’s, well, it’s the Muppets! Fozzie Bear’s cracking wise with Seth Rogen; Gonzo’s flying — and falling — once again; Miss Piggy’s being a total diva, refusing to be upstaged by an incredibly assignment understanding Carpenter; Kermit’s flappy arms are flapping; and Statler and Waldorf are up in their box throwing shade like it’s 1981 all over again. It looks right, it feels right, and honestly, 90 high-energy, zippy seconds of this is enough to make you wonder why this hasn’t been done sooner?

There’s nothing else really like The Muppet Show on TV any more, so maybe, just maybe, now really is the perfect time to put The Jim Henson Company’s beloved creations both figuratively and literally back in the spotlight once again. Can it be as sensational, inspirational, celebrational, and Muppetational as it was before? We’ll find out when The Muppet Show plays the music, lights the lights, and meets Disney+ on 4 February.