The Muppets Heading to Europe in Sequel

There hadn’t been much word for awhile about the planned follow-up to last year’s “The Muppets,” but this week brought both casting and plot news.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the next “Muppets” film is a “Europe-set comedy,” and actor Christoph Waltz is in talks to play the part of an Interpol inspector. Other major human roles, the report said, include “a Russian femme fatale and a male lead whose intentions are always in question.”

That would follow the pattern of the original Muppet movies, with the 2011 film a “Muppet Movie”-like origin/introduction, with the second film in the series a Europe-set genre film, in the tradition of “The Great Muppet Caper.”

The star/writer of the 2011 movie, Jason Segel, is not returning for the next movie, although director James Bobin is, along with co-screenwriter Nicholas Stoller.