"The Muppet Show" Got the Viewers and Emmys... Where's the Disney+ Series Order?

The Muppets have done just about everything Disney could have hoped for with their 2026 comeback. The Muppet Show special attracted millions of viewers, earned six Emmy nominations and has now taken home four awards. Yet, seven months after its debut, there is still no series order for a full revival on Disney+.

What’s Happening:

The special has emerged as one of Disney’s biggest Emmy performers of the year. After the first two nights of the 2026 Emmy ceremonies, The Muppet Show had collected four awards, putting it among the Disney portfolio’s top performers. The Television Academy confirmed that the Disney+ special was one of the programs with the most wins from the first two nights, alongside The Traitors and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, according to Deadline.
That success is especially notable considering The Muppet Show was nominated in six categories. Disney’s official Emmy nominations list included Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special, Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming, Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for Matt Vogel, Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special.
The awards success follows an encouraging launch for the special. Premiering February 4 on ABC and Disney+, The Muppet Show delivered 7.58 million viewers across the two platforms within its first eight days, according to Disney.
The company also reported that viewers had watched more than 125 million hours of Muppets content on Disney+ since the franchise arrived on the service.
The special was never intended to be a one-off project. When the revival was announced, it was positioned as a backdoor pilot for a potential new Muppet Show series. The concept brought Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and the rest of the ensemble back to the original Muppet Theatre for another variety show, with the success of the special intended to help determine whether the franchise would continue as a series.
That premise was even acknowledged directly in the special itself. Kermit tells viewers that it is the return of The Muppet Show on the very stage where it started, before joking that the show could be starting again depending on how the evening goes. In other words, the special was designed with the possibility of a larger comeback firmly in mind.
The revival brought together The Muppets Studio, 20th Television and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures. Rogen was heavily involved in the project, while Sabrina Carpenter appeared as the special guest and also served as an executive producer. Maya Rudolph was also featured, giving the special a high-profile guest lineup alongside the beloved Muppet ensemble.
So, with the audience numbers and awards seemingly validating the comeback, what is keeping a series from moving forward?
According to sources cited in the report, the obstacle has been creative rather than a lack of interest in continuing the franchise. The challenge has been finding an ongoing premise for a Muppet Show series that Disney+, 20th Television, The Muppets Studio and Point Grey Pictures can all agree on.
That distinction is important. The special demonstrated that there is still an audience for Kermit and company, but turning a successful one-night event into a sustainable television series presents a different challenge. A revival needs a format and creative direction that can generate stories week after week while still feeling true to what made the original Muppet Show distinctive.
For now, there are reportedly no active series conversations taking place. That could potentially change following the special’s strong Emmy showing, particularly as the awards provide another indication that the Muppets can still connect with both audiences and the television industry.
The timing also makes the question more interesting. The original The Muppet Show remains one of the franchise’s defining successes, and the 2026 special was deliberately constructed to recreate that classic variety-show environment. A series order would give Disney+ an opportunity to build on that foundation, but the creative team still needs to determine exactly what the next iteration of The Muppet Show should be.
For now, the 2026 special stands as a successful revival in its own right. It brought the Muppets back to their original home, attracted nearly eight million viewers across ABC and Disney+, earned six Emmy nominations and won four of them.
And there is one particularly notable footnote to the special’s awards run: Sabrina Carpenter is now halfway to an EGOT. As an executive producer, Carpenter was among those recognized for the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) win.
For the time being at least we can rest well knowing that there is also another Muppets project in the works with Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone producing a feature film centered on Miss Piggy, with Tony Award winner Cole Escola, known for the Broadway hit Oh, Mary!, writing the screenplay. The film is in early development at Disney as of November of 2025.
Whether that Emmy momentum is enough to finally get Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang back into a regular Disney+ series remains to be seen. For now, The Muppet Show has seemingly done its part. The next move is up to Disney and the creative teams behind the revival.

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"The Muppet Show" Got the Viewers and Emmys... Where's the Disney+ Series Order?

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