Sesame Street Season 56 News and Rumors

[Phillip]

With today's big announcement that Sesame Street Season 56 is coming to Netflix and PBS, it's time we kick off the Sesame Street Season 56 News and Rumors discussion. Production for Sesame Street Season 56 began in April 2025.

Here are official Sesame Street Season 56 details announced today by Netflix.

• "The new season will feature fresh format changes and the return of fan-favorite segments like Elmo’s World and Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck. Expect new ways to play along as Cookie Monster opens his very own Cookie Cart on Sesame Street, and explore Abby’s Fairy Garden, a home to surprising and delightful magical creatures."
• "Additionally, episodes will now center on one 11-minute story, allowing for even more character-driven humor and heart."
• "These new episodes of the iconic series will be available same day-and-date in the US on PBS stations and PBS KIDS digital platforms, bringing critical early learning to children throughout the country for free. Sesame Workshop is the global nonprofit behind Sesame Street, with Sal Perez and Kay Wilson Stallings serving as executive producers; Emmy, Humanitas, and NAACP Award nominee Halcyon Person (Karma’s World, Dee & Friends in Oz) joins as head writer. "

In October 2023, the Hollywood Reporter previously announced that the show would include two 11-minute story segments with a new animated series, Tales From 123 airing in between them.

 

[Muppet Master]

Wow, from 60 minutes to 11. Nice to see Sesame has a home though, and that it's not Disney.

 

[Ahappyfan]

Wow, from 60 minutes to 11. Nice to see Sesame has a home though, and that it's not Disney.

I'm a little confused. Is the show actually only gonna be 11 minutes long? Was the thing about the 2, seperate 11 minute Street stories with the 5 minute animated street story in between, false information? I'd just like a little clarification. Because if it's an 11 minute Street story and foodie truck and Elmo's world are still gonna air, then I really don't see how that's a "format change" at all

 

[sootyfan]

I'm a little confused. Is the show actually only gonna be 11 minutes long? Was the thing about the 2, seperate 11 minute Street stories with the 5 minute animated street story in between, false information? I'd just like a little clarification. Because if it's an 11 minute Street story and foodie truck and Elmo's world are still gonna air, then I really don't see how that's a "format change" at all

If I had to guess, I think the episodes are gonna be 11 minutes without segments and those are gonna be the ones that are put on Netflix, and the ones on PBS are gonna have segments added to them to make up the 30 minute runtime. Could be wrong though, I'm a bit confused myself.

 

[Spongybobchum]

They said it's a global deal. So it will likely be dubbed into foreign languages and made available everywhere, including Germany. If that's true, then Sesamstrasse is pretty much dead in the water.

 

[Phillip]

To clear up some of the confusion, here is a summary of the details we can safely determine as of now.

If episodes debut on Netflix and PBS the same day as announced, Sesame Street will continue to air in its current half-hour format. Instead of the major revolutionary format changes the Hollywood Reporter announced for Sesame Street Season 56 back in 2023, it appears we will see more modest evolutionary changes to each episode.

As mentioned earlier, the 2023 plan for the show to include two 11-minute street stories appears to have been scrapped either by Sesame Workshop, Netflix, or both. The fate of the animated Tales from 123 segment is also unknown at this point. Elmo's World and Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck appear to have a new lease on life as those segments will reportedly continue in new episodes. Keep in mind, it might just mean that older versions of these segments will continue to air, not that these segments are necessarily still in production.

Netflix said, "Additionally, episodes will now center on one 11-minute story, allowing for even more character-driven humor and heart." Currently, Season 55 street stories are about nine minutes each, so it sounds like Netflix street stories will be several minutes longer going forward. Hopefully, we will still see a renewed focus on classic Sesame Street songs and characters.

Netflix also announced in their press release that we can "Expect new ways to play along as Cookie Monster opens his very own Cookie Cart on Sesame Street, and explore Abby’s Fairy Garden, a home to surprising and delightful magical creatures." These are a few of the new Sesame Street games coming to Netflix and are nothing that should directly impact the show itself.