The best Christmas advert of all time has just landed thanks to the Muppets

Yes, it’s still October, but I am confidently calling it – we’ve already had the best Christmas TV advert of the year… and perhaps of all time.

There’s no doubt in my mind that it won’t be surpassed, and I already know it’s likely to remain my favourite ever because – through the dark magic of corporate might and financial power – US retail giant Walmart was able to do something many thought never possible.

And that is, bring back The Muppet Christmas Carol for a sequel of sorts with their holiday advert ‘A Who Knew? Carol’.

This is the festive film often lauded as the best in cinematic history. Forget Home Alone and It’s A Wonderful Life, because it’s all about the felt, feeling, and family vibes of Jim Henson’s famous puppet creations tackling Charles Dickens’ essential Christmastime novella.

We’ve had many fine (and, sadly, not-so-fine) Muppet exploits over the decades, but almost all fans agree that The Muppet Christmas Carol, directed by Jim’s son Brian Henson in 1992, is probably the most superior.

It works as the perfect family Christmas film, it works as an impressively faithful Dickens adaptation, and it also works as a glorious showcase of lauded actor Sir Michael Caine giving one of his best performances as Ebenezer Scrooge.

The world is essentially split into two camps: the full-throated fans of The Muppet Christmas Carol, and the ones who simply haven’t seen it yet.

So the Muppets appearing in Walmart’s 2026 Christmas advert came as a complete surprise, as evidenced by the volume of my dramatic gasp, which disturbed the entire newsroom (sorry not sorry).

Now a Muppet has got to earn their crust, or the meeces have got to earn their cheeses rather, so I’m not going to examine the ethics of commercialising this enterprise because that’s the whole point of every Christmas advert on TV from every major retailer.

And I’m afraid all those brands should be panicking at how they’ve been trumped already by Muppets x Walmart, no matter John Lewis’s previous triumphs like The Man on the Moon, Sainsbury’s with 1914 Truce or Nicholas Lyndhurst playing every member of a dysfunctional family for WHSmith during the 90s.

But I was pleasantly surprised to see the effort that had gone into the setting and scripting of the spot to pay homage to the film while also promoting Walmart’s required messaging.

From the opening seconds, pitched over snow-covered tiled roofs just like the original, it launches straight into Gonzo as Dickens and Rizzo the Rat as his assistant, serving as the narrator and his fourth wall-breaking foil – just like before.

The whole spot is a take on The Muppet Christmas Carol song Scrooge, with the Muppets setting up his dastardly character through music as the antagonist stalks through the streets of London.

Kermit reprises his role as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as his wife Emily and Fozzie Bear as ‘Fozziwig’, while Bean Bunny, Scooter, Beaker and Dr Bunsen Honeydew are all present and correct. We also see glimpses of the Swedish Chef, chickens, penguins, top-hat-wearing pigs and humans (including Brooklyn 99 and Encanto star Stephanie Beatriz).

Pepe the King Prawn also gets his own moment after not appearing in The Muppet Christmas Carol, presenting Rizzo with a lava lamp and quoting ‘light the lamp not the rat’.

The big surprise – and deviation – is saved for the end though, when Scrooge is revealed to be US White Lotus and Justified actor Walton Goggins, who previously transformed into the Grinch for Walmart last year. It would certainly have been a wish too far to get 93-year-old Sir Michael out of retirement for this, after all.

However, I’m impressed by how closely this advert stayed to the feel of The Muppet Christmas Carol – no doubt thanks to plenty of millennials involved in the advertising efforts who knew just how carefully to handle this precious IP.

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But good luck to the rest of the Christmas adverts still to come this year (basically all of them) because you’re going to need it.

Following the release of Walmart’s Muppets Christmas advert, fans reacted in droves to share how much they loved the unexpected follow-up to the beloved 90s classic.

‘This is the best ad I have ever seen,’ a YouTube user called Tyler commented, while AmazementParkShorts wrote: ‘Best Christmas ad of the year.’

‘My brother just sent me this. It is the best Christmas ad EVER!!!!!!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤,’ Char shared, whiel justjetz added: ‘I never thought I see this kind of ad that is a genuine masterpiece.’

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