Ever since the first Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, debuted in 1965, Charlie Brown and his friends have been a television mainstay, with over 40 specials and counting.

Some, like Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown (1981) and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003), are lower lights, while others, like Charlie Brown's All-Stars and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (both from 1966), are much stronger entries. But a recent addition to the Peanuts TV specials has emerged as the best of the lot—and Charlie Brown plays second fiddle.

‘Welcome Home, Franklin’ Gives the Spotlight to Peanuts’ First Black Character ✊🎬

2024’s Welcome Home, Franklin gives a backstory to Franklin Armstrong, the first Black Peanuts character, introduced in Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip on July 31, 1968. Franklin’s arrival in the comic strip was groundbreaking, but for years, he remained a background character, rarely given the depth or narrative weight of his peers. This special finally gives Franklin the story he deserves.

The special begins with Franklin (Caleb Bellavance) and his family arriving in town, the latest of many moves due to his father’s military service. Franklin heads out to make friends but finds the quirks of Linus (Wyatt White), Lucy (Isabella Leo), Pigpen (Lucien Duncan-Reid), and Snoopy (Terry McGurrin) a little unnerving. He heads to the beach—a callback to his first meeting with Charlie Brown in the comic strip—and meets Charlie Brown (Etienne Kellici), and the pair hit it off right away.

Later, the gang learns that a soapbox derby is being held, with the winner earning a trophy and a year of free pizza 🍕🏆. They each pick a partner, and Charlie Brown and Franklin, the odd men out, are forced to team up. They quickly become good friends, bonding over baseball, jazz, and space travel. However, a crash during a test run leads to an argument, but they reconcile and rebuild their soapbox together. While they don’t win the race, Franklin earns something far more valuable: acceptance and belonging among the Peanuts gang. Even better, Franklin’s days of moving from town to town are over after his dad accepts a new job that allows them to stay put. Franklin is staying, and he and the Peanuts gang celebrate 🎉.

‘Welcome Home, Franklin’ Rights Wrongs

Welcome Home, Franklin breathes fresh air into the age-old franchise, cleverly acknowledging the sins of its past while propelling Peanuts into much-needed diversity. The fact that the two “outcast” members—Charlie Brown and Franklin—find common ground and develop a fast friendship speaks volumes. Both are on the outside looking in, with Charlie Brown the perpetual loser and Franklin the new kid in town, but it’s easy to draw parallels with real-life prejudices against those with mental health issues and people of color. Their triumph over obstacles causes others to reevaluate those prejudices and welcome them into the group openly.

There’s a brilliant moment where Franklin looks at all the characters eating vanilla ice cream 🍦, saying to the audience, “One thing was for sure, there was a lack of variety in this place.” Craig Schulz, Charles’ son, explained, “We had a lot of discussions on that scene. How to clarify and define diversity in this Peanuts universe. That’s when I came up with the idea of the vanilla ice cream. It’s very subtle, and it gets the point across.” This scene gently skewers the lack of diversity in Peanuts to this point and promises something better going forward.

But perhaps the biggest story emerging from Welcome Home, Franklin is the righting of a wrong that happened in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973). That special ends with Franklin sitting alone on one side of the dinner table, while the others sit together on the other side—an act that reeks of racism. Notably, Charles Schulz had no input on that decision, having only written the script and not taken part in the animation process. His wife, Jean Schulz, and Black cartoonist Robb Armstrong—a friend of Schulz’s—confirmed this. Schulz even gave Franklin the surname “Armstrong” as an homage to Robb in You’re in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown (1994). In November 2020, Armstrong said at a panel discussion, “First of all, Charles Schulz named that dude after me—he is not racist. He is a wonderful human being who decided to put Jesus on a CBS Christmas special.”

By having Franklin sitting at the same dinner table surrounded by his friends, rather than isolated, Welcome Home, Franklin makes a strong statement, correcting the biggest wrong in Peanuts’ past ✊.

A New Era for Peanuts

By shifting the focus away from Charlie Brown, Welcome Home, Franklin breathes new life into the Peanuts franchise. It proves that the world Schulz created is big enough for more voices, and that stories of friendship, perseverance, and identity can resonate just as powerfully when told from a different perspective.

As Peanuts continues to evolve, this special sets a precedent for more inclusive storytelling, ensuring that every character—no matter how long they’ve been waiting—gets their moment to shine 💡✨.

#PeanutsForever 🥜 #WelcomeHomeFranklin ✊ #DiversityInAnimation 🌍 #CharlieBrownAndFranklin 🤝 #ClassicToModern 🎬