The Jim Henson Company has hired puppeteer and show creator John Tartaglia as creative supervisor of Fraggle Rock to take the property to new heights. 

Based in LA, Tartaglia will map out and lead the charge on an expansion plan that includes consumer products and brand extensions such as podcasts, live shows and location-based experiences. He’ll also work with the studio to develop and produce new TV series and live shows. 

Henson originally launched Fraggle Rock in the ’80s, and the musical series about a colony of friendly creatures who live and play underground eventually spanned five seasons and 96 episodes. 

A self-professed Fraggle Rock superfan, Tartaglia can trace his relationship with the IP back to age seven, when watching the TV show was a source of comfort in the aftermath of his parents’ divorce. “When the show premiered in the ’80s, it was a place where people could feel safe,” he says. “It’s motto was ‘Everyone is welcome in Fraggle Rock.'”

Now, after two decades of occasional puppet and development work on other Henson shows like Splash and Bubbles and Monster Jam, he gets to lead the brand he loves into its next chapter of growth. “With the world as scary and complicated as it is today, kids need a property like this again.” 

When it comes to starting to chart a path, Tartaglia sees potential in creating live events, licensed story books and music albums. And from there, he says the plan is to create more seasons of reboot series Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock for Apple TV+, and perhaps even a feature film. 

Now’s a good time to focus on audience growth, since Apple TV+ is launching Back to the Rock season two worldwide in March. And back in September, Henson lined up MGA Entertainment as the new show’s master toy partner in a multi-year deal. 

Staging the comeback actually started in 2020, when Apple TV+ ordered some new Fraggle shorts that were shot on iPhones at the puppeteers’ homes during the pandemic. Tartaglia was an executive producer on that project, and when the streamer eventually greenlit a new longform series (13 x 30 minutes), he started wearing multiple hats as an EP, writer and performer. So in many ways, this new role really just continues a natural progression of involvement that was already in play.