The internet loves its chaos-gremlin crossover fantasies, and few have had the same persistent momentum as the social-media campaign for Rian Johnson to merge “Knives Out” with The Muppets. Every few months, the meme cycle repeats itself: Benoit Blanc grills Kermit, Miss Piggy snaps at suspects, and Fozzie bombs during a murder investigation. And Johnson, who’s clearly seen all of it, finally addressed the idea — warmly and jokingly — in a recent chat with THR’s Awards Podcast.
It started when he was asked about genres he still wants to tackle. “I’d love to do a musical someday. I think that would be really fun,” he said. Then, right on cue: “Can we talk about the Muppets really quick? I’m not doing a Muppet. This is not the announcement.”
Johnson knows exactly why the question keeps resurfacing. “On the internet, the notion of a ‘Knives Out’ Muppet movie comes up a lot,” he said with a laugh. “I wanted to get you guys together here so that I could explain why that’s a bad idea.”
None of this was delivered with anything but amusement.
“It’s not a bad idea, but… I love and respect Muppet movies too much,” he said. The tonal mismatch is the sticking point. “The reality is, if you put Muppets in a Benoit Blanc movie, it would feel totally wrong because they would be getting murdered.”
The opposite approach doesn’t solve much either. “The alternative is to just stick Benoit Blanc into a Muppet movie, which admittedly would be very fun, but… would kind of break the reality of what Blanc is.”
Even so, Johnson’s affection for the Muppets is obvious, and he’s far from ruling out a project with them. “So, which is all to say, I would just love to do a regular awesome Muppet movie,” he said. Once the idea was in the air, he ran with it: “I’ll do the Muppet caper or my Muppet musical.” And when the host suggested working with Frank Oz, Johnson immediately brightened: “Get together with Frank Oz and cook something. That would be amazing.”
The whole exchange is breezy, cheerful, and clearly in on the joke. A Benoit Blanc/Muppets murder mystery may remain an eternal meme, but a straight-up Rian Johnson Muppet musical? He already sounds halfway there.
