A former Conshohocken resident Robb Armstrong is one of the writers on Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin on Apple TV+. Armstrong grew up in West Philadelphia, attended college at Syracuse, and lived in Conshohocken for about three years (2006ish to 2008ish). He currently lives in Los Angeles.

The latest Peanuts’ special focuses on Franklin’s origin story and how he comes to become friends with Charlie Brown. It is the first Peanuts’ story with a black character at the center of the story. It is streaming now.

Armstrong is an established cartoonist through his daily syndicated cartoon Jump Start that he launched in 1989. A live action version of the cartoon is currently in pre-production and will star Terry Crews.

In regards to the Peanuts’ character Franklin, Charles Schultz created the cartoon’s first black character in 1968 after a suggestion by a teacher following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For a 1994 special that has the Peanuts characters play football, Schultz needed to create a last name for Franklin for a scene where he is recognized by the public address announcer as he runs onto the field. According to Armstrong, Schultz called him to ask if he could give Franklin the last name of Armstrong. So the character Franklin was party named after Armstrong.

Below are two interviews with Armstrong about the special.

Photos – Left, Screengrab from NBC’s video. Right, Apple TV+