On May 16, 1990, the world woke up to unthinkable news: Jim Henson was gone. He was only 53. For millions, it felt like losing a friend. For the entertainment industry, it felt like losing the future.

In The Day the Future Ended, filmmaker Dodford explores the moment everything changed. Henson wasn’t slowing down, he was accelerating. After reshaping children’s television with Sesame Street, conquering primetime with The Muppet Show, and pushing fantasy filmmaking into new territory with The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, he was on the brink of something even bigger. A landmark deal with Disney promised financial freedom and creative control on a scale he’d never had before. For a man who was always thinking ten years ahead, the runway had just cleared.

And then, suddenly, it was cut short.

The documentary traces Henson’s relentless drive, from a shy kid who made puppets just to get a TV job, to the visionary who reinvented what puppetry could be. It also examines the risks he took, the commercial disappointments that stung, and the reinvention he was preparing when illness struck. What makes his passing feel so abrupt isn’t just his age, it’s that he was mid-sentence, creatively speaking.

If you grew up with Kermit, Big Bird, or the Goblin King, this one hits hard. But it’s also deeply uplifting. Because as Henson himself once wrote, his hope was to leave the world a little better than he found it.

Mission accomplished, Jim.