Watch How Charlie Brown's Friendship With Franklin Started

Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+

“When we sat down with the writing team, which is myself, my son Brian and Neil [Cornelius Uliano] we wanted to explore each of the characters, we would explore Sally and Marcy and so forth and we really wanted to do Franklin and we specifically told Apple TV+ that we want this to be the last show to come out this season because we want to have enough time to do it right,” Craig Schulz told BOSSIP. “We knew that for three white boys we couldn’t do it right, so we had to find somebody to co-write it and Robb came to mind. I met Robb recently and I thought let’s talk to Robb and see if he can come on board and write this with us and what he brought to the table coincided with our writing, we ended up formulating the story that we’re very very proud of.”

Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+

Franklin actually shares the same last name as Welcome Home, Franklin co-writer Robb Armstrong whose love for the Peanuts runs deep. Armstrong told us about what it’s felt like him to go from being a little kid who loved Snoopy, to meeting Charles Schulz and now having the opportunity to tell Franklin’s story.

“When I was a little boy I could I could scribble a little bit,I’m talking 3 or 4-years-old, and I would I would always gravitate toward the simplicity of Snoopy and Charlie Brown,” Armstrong told BOSSIP. “Simple organic shapes. Big round head. If you can draw a circle, you can kind of draw, right? And I thought that when I was a kid. Turns out he’s more complicated than that, but my mom would always encourage me, you know, ‘You have this gift, you have this gift…’ well fast forward years that would go by, I’d end up at the same syndicate with Charles Schulz, when I got my deal for “Jump Start” it was with United Features Syndicate, the same syndicate with “Peanuts” and I had a chance to meet Schulz.”

“When I finally met him, he responded to me as a fan. He didn’t respond to me as a mentor or superior. He honestly would speak to me on the same level, which was surprising, to say the least. He was a living legend at the time, he will not be equaled, it will never be an equal, I’m not posturing like another Charles Schulz. I’m honored to be a part of something this important, this HUGE and I think that the responsibility of taking something that was created out of compassion, that he knew this world needed — Franklin. He knew that in 1968 when the world was on fire and Dr. King was assassinated and people were literally revolting in the streets. He believed Harriet Glickman, a Jewish woman, who said why don’t you bring in a Black character? He believed her. He trusted her. Very risky. That’s him! He had commitment and follow through. What you’re seeing now with this project is the power of this. I’m not the creator of anything that’s not already there. Franklin is pure in his creation. He was pure in his intent. The character is a wonderful little boy and now now he’s fully fleshed out.”

Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+

Emmy Award-winning director Raymond S. Persi also directed previous Apple TV+ Peanuts specials Snoopy Presents: One Of A Kind Marcie, Snoopy Presents: Lucy’s School and Snoopy Presents: It’s The Small Things, Charlie Brown. He spoke to BOSSIP about his excitement for  Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin.

“Immediately what I was excited about when I read the script that they had written, was that you got to watch a friendship grow in real-time, and it was the ups and the downs of it, and how like it’s just the surface conversation sometimes that lead to the deeper connections,” Persi told BOSSIP. “So what was really great was, you’ll see that Franklin, because he’s a kid who travels a lot with his parents because his dad’s in the military, he doesn’t get a chance to connect or know how to connect he is used to just making fast friends. So he meets Charlie Brown who is the most authentic kid you could ever meet. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he learns that he can be himself and have friends and he can show all aspects of himself and have friends. I think that’s important for people to see that they can be accepted for who they are.  Charlie Brown is like him. They’re both guys who are hard to understand.  They’re a little quirky. They’re outliers. Charlie Brown has got this group that he’s not really a part of. Franklin comes in, he doesn’t know anybody, so they discover, ‘Wow’–  like the viewer is going to see — how alike they are.”

Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+

The big event at the center of the film is a Soap Box Derby race between all of the Peanuts characters.  Craig Schulz said the idea for the car race came from him and his son Bryan.

“I told him back when I was a kid we used to make Soap Box Derby cars. I remember I made a Flintstone mobile like the one Fred Flinstone would drive around. We’d roll down the hills and crash and so forth, so we thought that was the best way to show how this friendship could come together, by trying to build something together. We talked about a tree fort and other things, and really focused down on the idea of the Soap Box Derby and Raymond with his brilliance made the car racing come to life, which is fun to see.”

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin premieres on Apple TV+ February 16.

Produced for Apple TV+ by Peanuts and WildBrain, the special is directed by Emmy Award winner Raymond S. Persi (“The Simpsons,” “Wreck-It-Ralph”) and is co-written by Robb Armstrong (“Jump Start”) along with Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano, from an original story by Armstrong and Scott Montgomery (“The Snoopy Show”). Executive producers are Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, Cornelius Uliano, Paige Braddock, Josh Scherba, Stephaine Betts and Logan McPherson.