The impression I got was Jason Segel was the catalyst in getting The Muppets movie made. It all pretty much began with Forgetting Sarah Marshall and “Dracula’s Lament” and from there, and Segel’s confessed love of the Muppets, interest swelled. Segel, along with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller, penned the script for The Muppets which Segel then starred in and the rest is recent history.
Made on a $45 million budget, The Muppets made over $88 million domestically and tallied over $153 million worldwide and at the end of last week, Vulture reported The Muppets 2 was heading into the script stage with director James Bobin and Stoller set to return. However, one name missing was Segel’s and when the news was reported it looked as if he may just be missing out on the pre-production phase of the project and would still return as Gary. Not so fast…
Collider.com spoke with Segel while promoting his upcoming film Jeff, Who Lives at Home and it sounds like he’s done all he feels he needed to do with Jim Henson’s creations:
“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. All I wanted to do was to set the stage for them to do whatever they wanted. I did what I set out to do, and now I wanna pursue more human-related projects. 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.”
Those quotes don’t need much interpretation, but I would be 100% surprised if he didn’t return for the next movie in, at the very least, a cameo as Walter will most likely be moving on with his new life with the Muppets and getting into all new adventures.
The next step for The Muppets happens on March 20 when the film will hit DVD and Blu-ray. For more information on those releases just click here.
