It’s Time to Play the Music: Sabrina Carpenter to Guest Star on 2026 ‘Muppet Show’ Special

The Muppet Show is coming back — and it better have an unlimited sequin budget, because pop A-lister Sabrina Carpenter will be joining her fellow bedazzled diva Miss Piggy on the Muppet Theatre stage.

On Wednesday (Sept. 17), Disney+ announced that The Muppet Show — which originally ran from 1976 to 1981 — will return for a one-off special in 2026, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the series premiere.

“It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to get things started as The Muppet Show returns for a triumphant event on Disney+ in 2026 with special guest star @SabrinaCarpenter!” reads a caption on the Disney+ social accounts, alongside photos of the show’s logo and a mug engraved with Kermit the Frog’s name. “This brand-new installment from The Muppets Studio and Point Grey Pictures will feature Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and the gang as they return to the Muppet Theatre to put on a variety show filled with music, comedy, and plenty of chaos.”

Carpenter will also serve as an executive producer on the special, alongside Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver and Alex McAtee, who are exec-producing for Point Grey Pictures, and David Lightbody, Leigh Slaughter and Michael Steinbach, executive producing for The Muppets Studio.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the special will serve as a “backdoor pilot” for a proper revival of the series next year.

Carpenter is also in the news this week as one of the headliners for next year’s Coachella festival — a gig she predicted back in spring 2024 when she told her afternoon Coachella crowd, “See you back here when I headline!” Well, she might have manifested this Muppet Show job as well: Back in 2020, when she participated in the COVID-era TV special The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II, Carpenter was one of the singers who joined Rogen (yes, the new Muppet Show EP) to perform “The Muppet Show Theme” together through virtual video.