First official images from sequel The Muppets... Again!

The Muppets 2 (AKA The Muppets... Again! ) the upcoming sequel to the riotously popular The Muppets , has released a first batch of official images.

The stills feature Gervais and the Muppets clowning around on the London Underground. From the looks of things, this'll be once again be making good use of the wide selection of hand-puppet characters on offer, with plenty of familiar faces on show. And Walter's back!

Jim Henson’s fuzzy-felt creations were given a new lease of life by 2011’s The Muppets , a heart-swelling nostalgia-thon that played up to the fact that Kermit and co had fallen out of favour with the public.

That film saw the Muppets re-teaming to put on a show to raise the necessary cash to save their beloved theatre. This time around, the gang are heading off on a European jaunt that should hark back to the classic Muppet movie capers of their golden era.

While Jason Segel isn’t returning for this outing, director James Bobin and writer Nicholas Stoller are back. And - praise be! - Flight Of The Conchords star Bret McKenzie will reprise the musical duties that landed him an Oscar for the first film.

Bobin said of the sequel, "It’s great to be back working with the Muppets, some of them even remember my name occasionally now. As for the movie, it’s a tip of the hat to the old-school crime capers of the ’60s, but featuring a frog, a pig, a bear and a dog - no panthers, even pink ones - along with the usual Muppet-y mix of mayhem, music and laughs."

Check out the new images in full below:

[ Click on the images to see them in hi-res ]

Starring Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell and - we’re guessing - a bunch of celebrity cameos, The Muppets... Again! opens in the UK on 21 March 2014.