Chance the Rapper is in negotiations to join the cast of Warner Bros’ live-action Sesame Street movie.
Directed by Portlandia creator Jonathan Krisel, the film finds Big Bird and his Sesame Street friends mysteriously expelled from their neighborhood. Hoping to return to their home and prove that Sesame Street actually exists, they team up with plucky history show host Sally Hawthorne, who is on a quest to save her own show. But because the evil mayor of New York City has reasons of his own for keeping Sesame Street hidden from the world, Big Bird and his pal’s journey back home won’t be easy.
Chance, whose real name is Chancelor Jonathan Bennett, will play the mayor’s aide. And as previously announced, Anne Hathaway will portray the role of Sally Hawthorne.
Warner Bros.’ developed the movie with Sesame Workshop, which holds the rights to the Sesame Street TV series. Mike Rosolio (American Vandal) and Chris Galletta (The Kings of Summer) wrote drafts of the script for the film, which is also a musical. Bo Burnham, best known for writing and directing 2018’s Eighth Grace, will contribute original songs to the movie.
Warner Bros. is co-financing the movie with MGM, and Shawn Levy is producing with Michael Aguilar. Warner Bros.’ executive Jesse Ehrman, meanwhile, is overseeing the project for the studio.
This will be the third Sesame Street movie to be released in theaters. The first one was 1985’s Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, followed by 1999’s The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
Set to be released on January 14th, 2022, the new Sesame Street film will reunite Sesame Street characters with Chance, who appeared in an episode of the beloved children’s show back in January 2019.
Though best known for his music, Chance has already done two live-action movies. He starred as Dax Lycander in 2018’s horror-comedy Slice, and appeared as himself in 2019’s comedy Between Two Ferns: The Movie. Chance was also part of the voice cast of the 2019 remake of The Lion King.