“Muppets Live Another Day,” a rumored Disney+ project that would’ve seen Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppet gang team up with Josh Gad, has been canceled, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Gad, along with fellow series co-creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, have reportedly departed from the series’ production, prompting Disney to abandon the project. The show had never been officially announced, but rumors about the show date back as early as February of this year.
The show had been rumored to take place following the events of 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan (hence the project name “Muppets 1984”), as Kermit once again disbands the Muppet troupe, but they reunite to help find a missing Rowlf the Dog.
According to the Reporter‘s Lesley Goldberg, regime changes at Muppets Studios were a major factor in the decision to cancel the project. Gad, Horowitz and Kitsis had been working closely with studio vice president Debbie McClellan on “Muppet Live Another Day,” but McClellan soon departed from the studio. Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, then named Disney Parks Live Entertainment Senior Vice President David Lightbody to take over the studio. Lightbody apparently wanted to take a different direction on the Muppets, and reportedly offered the trio a chance to work on a new project featuring the characters, but the three felt strongly about their vision for the Muppets, and decided to walk away from the project rather than throw away over a year of work on a project they had faith in. Goldberg reports that the decision to depart from the project was amicable.
Gad took to social media to discuss the news, revealing previously-unrevealed aspects of the abandoned series, including original songs written by Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez of Frozen fame.
The cancellation of the project does not affect the production of “Muppets Now,” the unscripted variety shorts series coming to Disney+ next year. The show was officially announced at this year’s D23 Expo.
