Jason Segel's Noble Muppet Departure

In our News Update last week we shared the Vulture.com report that a new Muppet movie was in the works at Disney. The report stated that James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller, the director and co-writer of The Muppets, respectively, were tapped to write the next feature starring Kermit the Frog and company. The report also made a big deal of the fact that The Muppets co-writer, executive producer, and star Jason Segel was not attached to write the new film. Yesterday, Collider.com reported that not only would Segel not be writing the next Muppet movie, but he also has no plans to appear in it either.

A direct quote from Jason Segel himself reveals that there is absolutely no animosity between himself and Disney, and the decision was entirely his own: "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." Segel goes on to say that he's not totally opposed to having some sort of connection with the next film, but in the end all he wanted was to bring the Muppets back and he felt that's what he accomplished: "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."

This confirms the suspicion that there would be no appearance by Gary in the next Muppet movie, a fact that most likely has Muppet fans cheering because it alludes to the next film not being a direct sequel to The Muppets. No matter your thoughts on The Muppets itself or Gary as a character in the film, one absolutely cannot deny that Jason Segel was hugely responsible for bringing the Muppets back into the pop culture limelight. His dedication to honoring the characters and Jim Henson were tantamount and his work paid off.

To say that we as Muppet fans owe a debt of gratitude to Jason Segel is an understatement. He cared enough to put his acting career on hold and write a Muppet movie, bring star power to a Muppet movie, and create a majorly successful film. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jason for all he did for the Muppets and Muppet fans. Everyone here at The Muppet Mindset can't thank Jason enough for his passion and commitment. We'll certainly miss hearing Jason talk about how great the Muppets are in every appearance he makes... but he is doing the truly noble and honorable thing by stepping back and letting the Muppets be the Muppets. For that and so much more, we truly mean it when we say thank you, Jason Segel.

But... despite all of this... THERE IS A NEW MUPPET MOVIE BEING MADE. That is HUGE. Muppet Domination continues... and we could NOT be more thrilled!! Honestly this is like a dream... less than six months after the release of The Muppets, another Muppet movie is already in the works? Unreal and unbelievably exciting. We're sending our best wishes to James Bobin, Nicholas Stoller, all of the Muppeteers, Disney, and everyone involved with this upcoming movie. I'm sure you'll all join me in saying, "Bring on the Muppets!!"

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com