New ‘Peanuts’ special rewrites Franklin’s story

More than 50 years after being introduced, the first Black “Peanuts” character will get his proper due in a new streaming special on Apple TV+.

Premiering Feb. 16, “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin” will explore the origin story of beloved character Franklin Armstrong, who was first introduced to prime-time viewers in 1973’s “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”

While the cartoon’s inclusion of diversity was welcomed in the aftermath of the tumultuous civil rights movement, the show hit a sour note with viewers by segregating its only Black character from the rest of the Peanuts gang — having him seated by himself on a beach chair on the opposite side of the table, during what would’ve otherwise been a festive dinner scene.

But the recently released trailer for the upcoming special takes the racist undertones of yester-century head on with a plot twist. This time, when the Peanuts crew sits down for a similar group meal, there’s a seat at the table for Franklin.

“Hey, Franklin, we saved you a seat over here,” Linus van Pelt says, motioning to a place next to Charlie Brown.

The official synopsis for “Welcome Home, Franklin” describes the character as a military kid who’s new to town. After receiving a notebook from his grandfather filled with advice on friendship — and a few futile attempts at trying to make new pals — Franklin enters a soap box derby race and eventually bonds with Charlie Brown.

Before making his TV debut, Franklin was introduced in Charles Schulz’s widely read “Peanuts” comic strip on July 31, 1968 — less than four months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

According to lore, a white school teacher in California named Harriet Glickman wrote a letter to Schulz in which she urged the cartoonist to add a Black character to the comic in an effort to bridge racial gaps.