Six months after Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would not be renewing its deal to continue producing new episodes of the long-running children’s program “Sesame Street,” PBS KIDS announced on Monday (May 19) that the series would be moving to Netflix later this year.
Sesame Workshop Announces New Streaming Deal with Netflix
Netflix confirmed the acquisition of “Sesame Street” in a video posted to its YouTube channel, showing Cookie Monster taking a few bites out of the streaming platform’s iconic ‘N’ logo.
“We are excited to announce that new ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are coming to Netflix worldwide and PBS Kids in the U.S.,” wrote Sesame Workshop in a statement. “The support of Netflix, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting serve as a unique public-private partnership to enable ‘Sesame Street’ to continue to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder.”
The popular educational children’s program debuted to PBS audiences in 1969, introducing a cast of now-iconic characters like Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Count von Count, Oscar the Grouch, and more. Combining live-action and puppeteering, the series have celebrated an impressive 55 seasons since its premiere.
New episodes of “Sesame Street” were moved to HBO in 2016 when Warner Bros. Discovery acquired the rights to the series. Originally part of a five-season deal, HBO renewed the deal in 2019, uploading new episodes to its streaming platform, Max.
In December 2024, however, HBO announced that it had axed the show from its lineup, choosing instead to focus on their adult programming.
“It has been a wonderful, creative experience working with everyone at ‘Sesame Street’ on the iconic children’s series and we are thrilled to be able to keep some of the library series on Max in the U.S.,” said a Max spokesperson regarding the cancellation. “We’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families, and so new episodes of ‘Sesame Street,’ at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”
The recent Netflix deal, however, has confirmed that the series will return for its 56th season, with new episodes set to begin streaming on the platform later this year along an extensive 90-hour library of past episodes. While new episodes will be available to stream on Netflix, they will also air on PBS stations around the U.S., allowing the program to maintain its accessibility.
Everything to Know About ‘Sesame Street’ Season 56
While no official release date for “Sesame Street” Season 56 has been announced, PBS has revealed some information about how the show will change during its move to Netflix, including details about its release schedule and structure.
During the show’s tenure at HBO, new episodes of “Sesame Street” would air on PBS months after their release on Max. With Netflix, however, Season 56 will become available for streaming in three batches of new episodes. These episodes will also receive individual day-and-date releases on PBS and the PBS Kids app, providing free access to children all across the U.S..
Netflix has similarly reshaped the half-hour run time of episodes to focus on two 11-minunte stories, separated by other shorter skits and segments. This is a change from the show’s “magazine”-style format on PBS and HBO, which saw a shorter main story each episode. According to Netflix, the change will allow for “more character-driven humor and heart.”
Speaking of character, “Sesame Street” Season 56 will also see the return of the show’s iconic Jim Henson-designed puppets, including Elmo, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster to name a few. The characters will bring with them the return of fan-favorite segments like “Elmo’s World” and “Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck,” as well as introducing new segments, such as “Tales From 123,” a five-minute animated segment that focuses on stories set in “Sesame Street”s apartment building.
Sesame WorkshopHome to tenants like Abby Cadabby, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and roomates Bert and Ernie, “Tales from 123” will “give viewers an opportunity to go inside 123 Sesame Street, which is probably the most famous apartment building in the world…And there, beyond the stoop, is where monsters and humans and fairies and dinosaurs and talking numbers and letters and even food will call home.”
Speaking on the new segment, “Sesame Street” producer Wilson Stallings told the Hollywood Reporter, “This will be a great opportunity for our audiences to explore a whole new part and a whole new world of ‘Sesame Street’.”
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’Sesame Street’ Makes the Move to Netflix in Series-Saving Deal