It has already been 28 years since the theatrical release of Disney’s classic film The Mighty Ducks, and now Deadline brings word that Disney+ has officially given a 10-episode series order to the long-awaited series of the 1992 sports comedy-drama with Gilmore Girls alum Lauren Graham attached to lead the show as the coach of the titular youth hockey team. In addition to Graham, Good Boys star Brady Noon has also been tapped as the young lead of the sequel series.
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The Mighty Ducks 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.
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.
According to the outlet, Estevez is currently in negotiations to reprise his role as Gordon Bombay in the upcoming sequel series.
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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+.
