A day after announcing the casting of Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) in a lead role on the Disney+ series, The Mighty Ducks is bringing back the face of the franchise Emilio Estevez in one of his most iconic roles as Coach Gordon Bombay, who will also executive produce!
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“Once a Duck, always a Duck! And after 25 years, I am delighted to lace up my skates, put on Coach Bombay’s jacket and return to play the iconic character for this new chapter in The Mighty Ducks franchise,” Estevez said. “Likewise, I am thrilled to return to my old stomping grounds with my friends at Disney and Steve Brill, the original creator of the franchise, to join them on their exciting new platform, Disney+.“
The Mighty Ducks 10-episode series will be set in present-day Minnesota, where the iconic titular team have evolved from scrappy underdogs to an ultra-competitive, powerhouse youth hockey team. After 12-year-old Evan (Noon) is unceremoniously cut from the Ducks, he and his mom Alex (Graham) set out to build their own ragtag team of misfits to challenge the cutthroat, win-at-all-costs culture of competitive youth sports.
“It was an easy decision to bring back the Quack Attack with a modern and fresh twist,” Agnes Chu, senior vp content at Disney+, said. “For a generation, The Mighty Ducks stood for teamwork, friendship and heart and we’re excited to see the Ducks fly together once again and bring the franchise to new audiences around the world. We are thrilled to have Emilio Estevez reprising his iconic role.“
The original film was directed by Stephen Herek. It starred Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire) as Gordon Bombay, a successful attorney who later became the coach of a local youth hockey team after he was sentenced to community service as a punishment for drunk driving. After some self-realization, Estevez’s Gordon helped the underdog team by teaching them the techniques he learned when he was a kid which led them into winning the state championship.
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The Mighty Ducks series is co-created and will be executive produced by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa and the original film’s writer Steve Brill with Goldsmith and Yuspa serving as showrunners. It will also be executive produced by Lauren Graham, James Griffiths, Michael Spiller and Jordan Kerner along with Brillstein Entertainment Partners’ George Heller and Brad Petrigala. Griffith has also signed on as the director.
Produced by ABC Signature Studios, the series is expected to begin its production this month in Vancouver and is scheduled to launch later this year, exclusively on Disney+.
