Lisa Henson is a television and movie producer and current CEO of her family enterprise, The Jim Henson Company. She is also the oldest daughter of puppeteering pioneer, Jim Henson. Together with the rest of her family (her sisters Cheryl and Heather and brothers Brian and John), she has kept her father’s legacy alive for the generations who grew up with Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Rowlf and many other Muppets. And that legacy today is alive and well, despite Henson’s death at only 53 in 1990: Kermit was the guest of honor on American Idol. Netflix is working on a 10-episode fantasy adventure series that will be a prequel to the groundbreaking 1982 fan favorite The Dark Crystal. And until September The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited at the Skirball Cultural Center (Brentwood, California) paints a full portrait of the man and his creatures. As they say, the world can always use more Muppets. We spoke to Ms. Henson in Los Angeles about the exhibit, her father’s vision and the upcoming The Happytime Murders, a very adult take on the Muppets.

Are we living a Jim Henson revival?

From my point of view, it never went away. But The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited reminds me that is a pleasure to be involved with such an important legacy. If anything, I think that people’s awareness of him is changing. When he was alive he was known mainly as the creator of the Muppets, as the performer of Kermit. But as the years have elapsed people have discovered the other artistic sides of him. They have come to appreciate his fantasy filmmaking with Labyrinth. They have come to appreciate the artist and designer, the technical innovator. The full weight of his creativity is more clear to the public now, so many years later, than it was at the time. But The Muppets have always been very popular over the years.

And now the magic of The Dark Crystal will also be back thanks to the new TV show at Netflix.

I can’t be more proud and happy with this. It’s truly one of the most, if not the most, rewarding project I ever worked on. It’s so exciting and groundbreaking. We are using traditional puppet technique, the same technique that was used in the original Dark Crystal movie. But we also have new tools at our disposal, new cameras, new kinds of post effects and new ways to give the puppets more capability to do action, give them greater audacity, augment the illusion of being alive. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a fantastic project and Louis Leterrier is directing every episode.

How it all began (L-R): Daniel Seagren holding and Jim Henson and Frank Oz working Ernie and Bertie, at the rehearsal for an episode of Sesame Street in 1970.

david attie/getty images

As the exhibition mentions, Jim Henson’s imagination was unlimited. Where do you think his creativity would have gone if he were still alive?

In the 1980s he was pursuing a couple of areas that really didn’t mature in the industry for a long time. One of his main interests was stereoscopic 3D. And he made a 3D film for Disneyland called Muppets Vision 3D. He imagined the immersive entertainment that 3D movies have become. It was a 4D experience before the 4D theatres of today. His excitement for stereoscopic didn’t reach Hollywood for many years. And the other thing he was very interested in was computer animation. I remember going with him to talk to a number of computer animation experts. Especially after Tron was released. He studied computer animation quite thoroughly and incorporated a puppet computer animated character in Muppets Vision 3D movie for Disney. Some people think that Jim Henson would have never combined computer animation with puppets but he was extremely interested in CGI. He was always a great innovator.

Let’s talk about the adult side of The Jim Henson Company. Let’s talk about The Happytimes Murders. How does it fit within the same company as Kermit the Frog?

Actually, Kermit is owned by Disney. Kermit and Miss Piggy. They are housed in an entity within Disney called Muppet Studios. Then there are the Sesame Street Muppets owned by The Sesame Street Workshop. The Jim Henson Company owns other properties like Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and all of our brand new shows. All three companies are participating in this exhibition. My brother Brian is primarily the leader of the adult content puppets, of all those shows that are not for kids. That’s why we created a different label called Henson Alternative. We call it HA because it’s supposed to be very funny. And he has just directed The Happytime Murders with that sensibility. It’s not for kids. Very, very adult. Your jaw is going to drop to the floor when you see it.