Disney is reportedly rebooting The Muppets for its streaming service

Disney is planning to create a new Muppets TV series for its not-yet-launched streaming service, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Details on the series are scarce, but it’s in line with earlier reports about the kind of streaming service Disney plans to operate. Earlier this month, Deadline reported that Disney plans to release a handful of original films and series within the first year and that the service would stick with family-friendly TV shows and movies.

The Muppets reboot would also continue Disney’s trend of populating its streaming service with its own intellectual property. As THR points out, Disney acquired The Muppets Studio in 2004 and has already created a Muppets TV series for ABC, which was canceled after one season. Last fall, Disney announced that its streaming service would include TV shows inspired by Monsters Inc. and High School Musical, as well as a live-action Star Wars series. All Marvel and Star Wars films will also be exclusive to its service.

Netflix inked a streaming deal with Disney back in 2012, but it didn’t go into effect until 2016. Disney has said it will end the deal beginning with films released in 2019, and Netflix will keep older films through the end of that year. Disney’s streaming service might feel late, but it already has wildly popular franchises on its side, plus the books, comics, and theme parks they inspire. As The Verge’s Bryan Bishop wrote in November, “It’s a holistic ecosystem of entertainment, all under one corporate umbrella, with each division pushing audiences to engage with every other division.”

The streaming service is reportedly on track to launch sometime next year in the US and expand internationally after that.

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