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Emilio Estevez says he had big plans for a Mighty Ducks comeback — but Disney wasn’t interested.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Estevez revealed he wrote a spec script for a fourth Mighty Ducks movie, aiming to course-correct after the bumpy ride of Disney+’s Game Changers series.
“I also wrote ‘Mighty Ducks 4,’” Estevez said. “I wanted to make up for all of the disasters that happened on the ‘Game Changers’ series.”
His pitch? A fresh, female-forward take with some familiar faces.
“[It’s] a feature script that had coach Bombay coming back, being pulled back in by Joshua Jackson’s character and Kenan Thompson’s character and to coach a new team, an expansion team, for the professional women’s hockey league,” he explained. “So, it would be an all-girl team. Now, when we discover Bombay, he’s coaching roller derby and so he says, ‘My girls are going with me. They have to have a shot.’ It was charming and contemporary and cool and organically of the moment. It’s where we’re at… Disney was like, ‘We don’t want to pursue that.’”
Estevez first played Coach Gordon Bombay in the 1992 original and returned for two sequels, then again in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. He starred in Season 1, helping a new generation of underdogs find their groove at the Ice Palace. But behind the scenes, friction over COVID-19 vaccine protocols led to his departure before Season 2 — which turned out to be the show’s last.
A source close to production said Estevez didn’t confirm he’d comply with ABC Signature’s vaccine mandate, part of the industry’s return-to-work agreement. Because of that, the studio chose not to bring him back.
Despite the drama, Game Changers got solid reviews. “The writing is clever, and sometimes even elicits a laugh, which is good because we already know where the series is going,” said Decider’s Joel Keller. “So, yes, if a show is going to be predictable, it might as well be entertaining along the way.”
Watch Estevez’s full interview on Happy Sad Confused in the video above.
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