Peanuts’ Welcome Home, Franklin Resolves 50-Year-Old Thanksgiving Special’s Race Controversy

Apple TV+’s latest offering in the Peanuts universe, Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin, is stirring up debate on social media, and addressing a 50-year-old controversy about the much-loved A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special that debuted in 1973. The new special shines a spotlight on Franklin Armstrong, a character celebrated for breaking racial barriers since his introduction into the comic strip in 1968.

The 1973 special has often been the subject of debate for a scene that depicted Franklin seated alone on one side of a dinner table, separated from the other characters, who sat grouped together on the opposite side. On the back of recent criticism of the segregated nature of Franklin’s appearance in that special, the new Peanuts special not only revisits this moment but reimagines it in a way that emphasizes unity and inclusivity, showing Franklin surrounded by his friends.

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin

4/5

Release Date

February 16, 2024

Director

Raymond S. Persi

Writers

Bryan Schulz , Craig Schulz , Cornelius Uliano , Robb Armstrong

Studio

WildBrain Studios

Craig Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, and director Raymond S. Persi have both highlighted the intention behind this revision. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Schulz explained:

Persi elaborated on the way the new scene was purposely structured to replicate the set-up of the original scene, but then pivot things in a new direction entirely. He added:

“To make it have the most impact, [I suggested that we] match the shot exactly to what it was in the Thanksgiving special. So, we looked at the original frame. You’ll see [in the special] it’s even that same weird, wonky perspective of the table. We put it in there just so that it would immediately get people to connect to that moment.”

Peanuts’ New Special is Another Piece of a Progressing Puzzle

Franklin’s character has always been a symbol of progress. His introduction in the late ’60s was a direct response to the civil rights movement, with Charles M. Schulz insisting on Franklin’s inclusion despite resistance from some newspaper editors who refused to publish the cartoon if the character remained in it. Recounting the way Franklin’s first appearance came about, Schulz said:

“The year was 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated. A young school teacher named Harriet Glickman had seen this, and it profoundly affected her. She thought that one way to get a better message out to the community was to reach out to some cartoonists and see if we could get a Black character in the cartoon world—which there hadn’t been up until then.”

Schulz recalled his father sharing some of the letters he received full of racist rants from those who opposed what he was attempting to do in the Peanuts comic strip. He added:

“Newspapers refused to run those comics with Franklin in them in those days. My dad said, ‘If you’re not going to run it, that’s fine with me. I’m just not going to write it.’ I think the whole thing really enlightened him on the anger that was in the world.”

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Welcome Home, Franklin is a new step in that journey that Schulz Sr began all those years ago, and it seems that his son believes that now is the perfect time for it to have been released. He concluded:

“The time in 1968 is similar to the time we have right now. There’s a lot of divisiveness, and a lot of anger in the world. [It is] a powerful way to show that two people can come together if you just take it down to a basic level.”