The Mighty Ducks film trilogy is being adapted into a TV series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it’s in early development stages through ABC Signature Studios. While there’s currently no network attached, the original screenwriter, Steven Brill, is on board as well as the original producer Jordan Kerner.
The project was put into motion after Brill and Kerner approached ABC Signature head Tracy Underwood with the idea of the adapting the beloved 1990s franchise about a Minnesota youth ice hockey team. If the script is approved, ABC Signature would attach talent to the series and pitch it to streaming services.
Disney released The Mighty Ducks in 1992 as a vehicle for Emilio Estevez, who starred as a Minneapolis attorney named Gordon Bombay that’s court-mandated to coach a perennial loser peewee hockey team after being pulled over for drunk driving. The film led to two sequels, D2: The Mighty Ducks and D3: The Mighty Ducks, and launched the career of future Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson.
The first film so successful that when Disney purchased an actual professional hockey team a year later, they named the NHL club the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The moniker remained until 2006 when new owners shortened it to the Anaheim Ducks.
It’s currently unclear whether the new Mighty Ducks show is a sequel or a reboot, but Disney has brought the franchise to TV before. In 1996, the studio launched an animated series which aired on ABC as part of The Disney Afternoon.
As we await more news, relive the scene when Estevez meets the team below.
