Fans hoping to see Frozen star Josh Gad on Muppets Live Another Day appear to be out of luck — new reports suggest Disney+ has scrapped the latest addition to the iconic Jim Henson franchise. First reported by THR, both Gad and series showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis (Once Upon a Time) have decided to part from the project due to creative differences with a new Muppets executive.
After longtime Muppets Studios exec Debbie McClellan left the outfit, Disney chief Bob Iger replaced her with Disney Parkers senior vice president David Lightbody. It’s said the creative differences between the executives after Lightbody took over is what led to the exodus of the show’s attached talent.
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Live Another Day was being planned as an eight-episode mini-series set after the events of Muppets Take Manhattan. After Lightbody took over, he reportedly offered the three their roles in the direction he wanted to take the franchise though the trio is said to have passed. It’s said the scrapping of this limited series has no impact on Muppets Now, another show announced last month at D23.
Muppets Live Another Day is the second project scrapped by Disney’s direct-to-consumer platform ahead of its launch later this year. Earlier this summer, the service sent Michael Seitzman’s Book of Enchantment to the chopping block after the property reportedly took on a darker tone than initially intended.
Earlier this year, longtime Muppets performer Frank Oz admitted he wasn’t a fan of the latest projects to come out of the franchise.
“The pure quality I’m talking about is the purity of character. I had to turn The Muppet thing off, the ABC series, after 15 minutes,” Oz said during a panel at South by Southwest. “Fozzie had a girlfriend and he drank some wine, I don’t know. It totally destroyed Fozzie. Destroyed. The reason you guys love them is because we were true to their character. That’s why you love them, they touch your heart.”
All three creatives will undoubtedly land on their feet, which each of them already moving on to new projects with Apple’s new streaming service. Horowitz and Kitsis are developing an anthology series title Amazing Stories for the tech giant as they inch closer to the halfway point in their overall deal with ABC Studios. Gad, on the other hand, has a hand in the development of Central Park, an animated comedy for the platform.
Disney+ launches November 12th.
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