DVDizzy Forum

A deal has been reached with The Muppets director James Bobin and original co-writer Nicholas Stoller to pen a sequel, but insiders also tell us that Stoller's original collaborator, Jason Segel, won't be returning to the keyboard. Segel, a star of How I Met Your Mother — now in its eighth season — has a burgeoning film career, and Disney insiders tell Vulture that between his commitment to the CBS sitcom, his other feature-writing efforts, and promotional work for Five Year Engagement (due out this coming April) and Judd Apatow's This Is Forty (in December), there won't be time to collaborate on a Muppets sequel. A Segel spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, but we're told by our Disney insiders that there's still a chance that the actor may star in a Muppets sequel, depending on how the Stoller-Bobin script turns out.

JiminyCrick91 wrote:Muppet movies don't connect. They are supposed move on to the next story with new humans involved. That's the way I feel anyhow.

Disney Geek wrote:I'm not sure about this.

I liked The Muppets and would love to see disney do another Muppet film, but is a sequel really the way to go?

Toky wrote:The latest news is that BBC is writing a new show for the muppets, for a 2013 tv release....while Disney is currently planning the sequel yeay the Muppets are back on track...let's hope they won't screw up these upcoming projects

When asked if the rumors were true that he wouldn’t be involved in The Muppets sequel, including not starring, Segel responded affirmatively:

"It’s true but it’s totally amicable. My goal was to bring The Muppets back and I did that leaving them in very good hands, my writing partner and James Bobin the director. I did what I set out to do, and now I wanna pursue more human-related projects (laughs)"

While it sounds like we won’t see Gary in the direct sequel, Segel’s leaving the door open to return in some capacity to the production, reiterating that his ultimate goal was just to bring The Muppets back:

"All I wanted to do was to set the stage for them to do whatever they wanted. I’m sure I’ll return in some capacity here and there, but that was half a decade of my life. Five years of hard work. I’m ready for a little puppet break."

Q: Before I run out of time with you, which I know is going to happen quite soon, I have to open the door on the sequel to The Muppets. This is a mandatory question. What is going on with it right now? Are you writing?

Nicholas Stoller: I’m writing with James Bobin. We’ve outlined it over the past couple weeks and we literally started writing it yesterday. The first 13 pages are written.

Q: Really?

Nicholas Stoller: Yeah. It is started. It is on.

Q: Obviously Jason [Segel] has talked about how he’s not going to be in it. Have you guys written the possibility of a cameo for Jason?

Nicholas Stoller: Right now, yeah, there’s a cameo possibility in it, definitely. Gary and Mary’s story is concluded. There’s not much to say after that for their story, but we follow them up into a…I will say, it is a caper. It is a comedy caper.

Q: Nice! I appreciate that. Has Disney told you guys when they want to release it?

Nicholas Stoller: They really want it. It’s very…it was very encouraging and exciting. I’ve never been part of a franchise before. They want to do it. They want it as soon as possible, which is good. I’m not sure exactly when they want to release it. I think it was something like next summer, but I don’t know if that’s…I don’t think that that’s realistic in terms of getting it all together in time. But to want to do it so quickly is great. It certainly makes us want to write it quickly.

Q: I love the first one. You mentioned comedy caper. Obviously the Muppets have done a lot of stuff. Are you looking at any of the previous Muppet movies or is this a whole new angle on what you guys are doing?

Nicholas Stoller: Yeah, I think it’s similar to the first one in that the first one certainly had dramatic connections to the first Muppet movie, but it was a whole new thing, hopefully. This is the same thing. We love The Great Muppet Caper and we love Muppets Take Manhattan and whatnot. So this has some elements of that, but it’s different because it’s in the tone of what James and I like to do.

Q: I’ve got to wrap, but two really quick last things: are you introducing any new characters and what’s going on with that TV pilot you’re doing?

Nicholas Stoller: We are introducing new characters. That’s really fun to do. Secondly, the TV pilot I finished, that’s for CBS, I won’t know until mid-May if it’s picked up. It came out really well. The cast is awesome. I love it. I hope it’s picked up. Who knows.