Sesame Street has revealed what lessons they will be focusing on in the newest season that will be premiering in 2025.

This year, the acclaimed family program will be airing its 55th season, which will feature a star-studded lineup of musicians that would be the envy of any summer festival: SZA, Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, Reneé Rapp, and Samara Joy.

The new season comes after Warner Bros. Discovery ended its agreement to air new episodes of Sesame Street on HBO and Max, leaving the beloved kids’ show searching for a new home.

The upcoming season will focus on lessons in emotional well-being. It debuts on January 16 on Max with new episodes releasing every Thursday. Sesame Street will also be available on PBS stations and to stream on PBS Kids in the fall.

This will be the last season aired on Max as the network revealed its desire to focus on more adult content.

“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.,” a spokesperson for Max told The Hollywood Reporter. “As we’ve launched Max though and based on consumer usage and feedback, we’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families, and so new episodes from Sesame Street, at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”

However, Max will continue working with the producer of the program, Sesame Workshop. Max will still stream old episodes from Sesame Street’s catalog until the end of 2027.

Despite the loss of a network in the future, those involved with the children’s show are optimistic about the current season.

“There's a lot to learn from music — yeah, timing and harmonies and melody and different styles and different cultures,” Elmo told The Associated Press in an interview about the new season. “It's really cool! We've got a lot of wonderful people to come and do some music with us on Sesame Street, like Miss Reneé Rapp and SZA! Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, Samara Joy — lots of great people!”

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days

New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled

Try for free

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days

New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled

Try for free

Songs double as life lessons on Sesame Street, from an alt-R&B-pop track about gratitude with SZA to an acoustic number about feelings with Rapp.

“SZA is really cool — really talented. And ‘gratitude’ was a new word for Elmo, too. So, Elmo learned all about gratitude with SZA,” he said.

“Elmo was feeling really, really happy after his playdate with Miss Reneé. It was a really beautiful song. She's got a great voice and Elmo hopes she comes back soon.”

Other highlights from this season include Kahan performing a foot-stomping folk song about music and feelings, Joy using jazz improvisation to teach a lesson in taking turns, and a country ode to music and friends courtesy of Stapleton.

“Chris Stapleton really wanted to write his own song,” music director Bill Sherman said, and so the pair hopped on a Zoom and wrote a song together, Stapleton with his guitar in tow, ideas flowing. “It was really one of the most surreal two-hour Zooms that I really ever had in my life.”

Joy took a different approach. “Samara Joy insisted on singing live," says Sherman. “It very rarely happens on Sesame Street. I can only count, like, a few times. So, there was like Stevie Wonder back in the day, which is a classic. And there’s like Billy Joel, there’s John Legend, there’s a couple people that actually sing live. But Samara insisted on it.”

Her reasoning was simple. “She said, ‘Well, this whole episode is about improvisation and thinking on your toes. And so, if it’s prerecorded, that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to teach.’”

If there is a theme that connects all these performances to one another, it's a spirit of connection. At least, that's Elmo's theory: “Elmo thinks that music brings people together, you know? And some people who like some things and some people who like other things can kind of come together because they like the same kind of music. And that's kind of cool!”

Sesame Street, designed by education professionals and child psychologists, is shown in more than 150 countries, has won over 200 Emmys, 11 Grammys, two Peabody Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement, the first time a television program got the award.

Additional reporting from The Associated Press

Read More