The Muppets are back, picking up right where they left off in their 2011 film, "The Muppets."

Like, exactly at the moment the first movie ends.

"Hey, what's the camera still doing here?" says the character Walter.

"Oh no, disaster!" says curmudgeon Statler. "That can only mean one thing."

"Doggonnit, you're right," fellow heckler Waldorf adds. "It looks like they've ordered ... a sequel!"

And that's how the new film "Muppets Most Wanted" begins: fully in sequel-land.

Alex Cohen talked with the writer of both films about the Muppets' new found popularity, and why the franchise is a beloved classic.

“I’d call the Muppets — especially for people of my generation — the gateway drug to comedy," says writer Nick Stoller. "So you kind of try some of that and you’re like, 'That’s what I want to do for a living. I don’t know what that is, but that’s what I want to do.' And it really led me into wanting to be a comedy writer.”

Hear more about the new film, how they cast some surprising guest cameos, and which Muppet everyone dreams about being but will never be.