People Are Having Some Trouble With The New Voice Of Kermit In The ‘Muppets Now’ Trailer

On Wednesday, Disney+ released the latest trailer for Muppets Now, the super-company’s latest attempt to do something with the Jim Henson brand they purchased for $75 million back in 2004. It’s been a bumpy road, with one mildly underperforming reboot movie, an actually underperforming sequel, and a mockumentary TV show that lasted only one season. (Kermit, at least, has endured in the form of many popular memes.) Muppets Now, a short-form improv-y series featuring the likes of Josh Gad and Seth Rogen, may be the thing that gets them back on track, but there’s one hitch: Some people on Twitter felt the new guy voicing ringleader Kermit is a little…off.

The trailer consists of a Zoom session — because even puppets have to social distance when making content now — with Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Janice, Dr. Teeth et al. popping in for a quick meeting. “Hi, everyone,” Kermit announces, and you don’t have to be a stickler for detail to notice Kermit suddenly sounds different. And there’s a reason for that: Steve Whitmire, who took over for Kermit creator and longtime voice Jim Henson after his death in 1990, retired from the gig in 1990. He was replaced by Matt Vogel in 2017, but we haven’t really heard a lot from the Muppets since then.

As such, Vogel’s attempt to carry the torch couldn’t help but sound…not quite there. It left people confused.

https://twitter.com/mdm4ever/status/1283471078527045633

Some were more directly critical.

https://twitter.com/Nick0086/status/1283459799062020096

Some were angry.

https://twitter.com/RetroArcadeMonk/status/1283432098041335809

Some, however, were optimistic about the show in general but hoped Vogel would get better.

Some were more charitable in their criticism.

And at least one was incredibly complimentary.

There was, however, one detail that jumped out to some.