Comedian Ricky Gervais is the latest actor rumored to join the untitled Muppets sequel, according to a recent article from The Hollywood Reporter. The Englishman is currently in negotiations to star as “one of three” human leads in the film, which will see Kermit, Fozzie, and Miss Piggy taking on Europe.
2011’s The Muppets, while arguably gimmicky, charmed family audiences with the same singing, dancing, and puppetry that put Muppet films on the map in former generations. It also had the talents of Jason Segel and Amy Adams, which never hurt.
The sequel seems to be after a similar formula. While both Segel and Adams will not return, a few names have popped up other than Ricky Gervais’s. Last week, Modern Family‘s Ty Burrell also joined the film. Over a month ago, Christoph Waltz signed on to star as an Interpol agent embroiled in the antics of Kermit and Co. James Bobin — director of The Muppets — is set to return along with screenplay co-writer Nicholas Stoller.
Ricky Gervais’s role is rumored to be similar to Segel’s in the 2011 movie. However, it’s hard to know for sure what the nature of his role will be due to the secrecy surrounding the script. This includes whether or not Gervais will find himself subject to the Muppets’ trademark singing and dancing (although that’s kind of assumed).
It’s difficult to decide what to make of Ricky Gervais’s potential involvement. If the deal does go through, this would mark Gervais’s first feature lead since 2009’s The Invention of Lying, which was, well, terrible. What do you think?
