The long-running Sesame Street children's show is gearing up for another foray into movies with an upcoming musical planned by Warner Bros. based on characters from the series. Now we've learned that Chance the Rapper is negotiating to join the Sesame Street Movie in a major role.

Sesame Street has a long and illustrious history of pairing up with notable pop-culture icons of the age. The show has featured guest appearances by many celebrities from Johnny Cash to Michelle Obama. Chance the Rapper himself has already made an appearance on the show for a Youtube short where he and Cookie Monster explained the meaning of the word 'Theater' to their young audience.

While Chance initially gained fame for his music, he has since steadily branched out into various other aspects of business and the arts. He also displayed his comic chops when he hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live as both the host and musical performer. The rapper's performance on the show was praised, and transitioning to a movie role with The Muppets feels like a natural next step after proving he is comfortable working with an ensemble sketch comedy cast.

The Sesame Street movie stars Anne Hatheway in the lead role. The script for the film, written by Chris Galetta and set to be directed by Jonathan Krisel of Portalndia fame, is said to follow the lives of the muppets when they are expelled from the street on which they have lived for so long. Now Elmo and his pals must take the help of a history show host, played by Hatheway, to prove that Sesame Street is a historic part of the neighborhood and their irreplaceable home.

The movie is set to be a musical featuring songs by several artists, including Bo Burnham and songs from the Muppets' own extensive repertoire.

Interestingly, there have been two other recent attempts to make a film version of children's education programs for general audiences, with mixed results. Melissa McCarthy's The Happytime Murders was loosely inspired by The Muppets, and produced by The Jim Henson Company. Dora the Explorer also got her own live-action movie featuring a grown-up Dora tackling highschool while setting out on a quest to save her parents.

Neither of the movies managed to set the box-office on fire, but then Sesame Street has always had its own brand recognition and inbuilt fanbase which they have made films, TV specials and documentaries for with great success.

With a release date fixed on January 14, 2022, the new Muppets film is still in the early stages of development. This means most of the actors and technicians are yet to be cast for the project. Sesame Street has been on the air since 1969 and shows no signs of slowing down, with HBO Max recently renewing the series for five more seasons. There has also been news of multiple Sesame Street spinoff shows in the works, which means the franchise is busier than ever imparting its unique brand of educational entertainment to a new generation of young viewers. This news comes from The Wrap.