It’s The Muppet Show With Our Very Special Guest, Sabrina Carpenter!

Sabrina Carpenter will guest star in a special edition of The Muppet Show from Seth Rogen

Well, here’s some good news. The Muppet Show will return – once, at least – next year as a special one-off TV event to mark the series’ 50th anniversary, and Sabrina Carpenter has been announced as the first of what we have to assume will be many guests. The special will air on Disney+ on February 4, 2026.

Other than that, there’s not much to tell. There is a very brief teaser to whet our appetites, though:

This anniversary edition of The Muppet Show comes to us from executive producer Seth Rogen, obviously putting some of his clout from The Studio to good use. Other than Sabrina Carpenter, few cast details have been revealed, except that Muppet veterans Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman, and Matt Vogel will be on hand for puppet-wrangling duties.

Like all right thinking people, I have a huge amount of affection for The Muppets, but it’s clear that the powers that be (that’d be Disney) haven’t exactly known just what to do with our little felt friendos. Several reboot attempts have faltered over the years, the most recent being The Muppets Mayhem, which focused on the Muppets’ house band and is worth it for the Peter Jackson cameo alone.

The received wisdom is that this new special is effectively a back door pilot, or at the very least a way to test the waters and see if the Muppets still have pulling power. I’d hope so – I’d love to see The Muppet Show hitting our screens weekly once again. Certainly booking Sabrina Carpenter for their opening shot indicates they’re giving it a red hot go, but whether audiences respond is a whole different kettle of fish.