Earlier this year, Disney announced that its Original series “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” would be returning for a second season on Disney+ in 2022.
However, the series has hit a significant snag as, according to Deadline, Emilio Estevez, will not be returning for a second season, because he will not provide assurances to ABC Signature Studios that he would comply with the policy of having a vaccination for COVID-19.
There have been negotiations going on for weeks, but ultimately Disney decided not to option his return for a second season, as scripts needed to be written to get ready for production to begin in early 2022.
While there is currently no blanket policy for vaccinations to be mandatory on sets, Disney has adopted a mandatory vaccination policy for the cast and crew in Zone A. This was also agreed upon in the most recent Return-to-Work agreement between the Hollywood studios and major unions.
Emilio Estevez’s reps have stated that it was a creative decision why he isn’t returning for a second season.
This is becoming a more significant issue in the entertainment industry. Ice Cube recently turned down a $9 million movie over a mandatory vaccination policy, and several WWE wrestlers were released today over their failure to get a vaccine. Ultimately, companies have to protect their workers and ensure production keeps on track, as any delays due to positive tests can cause major issues.
While it’s unfortunate that Emilio Estevez isn’t returning for the second season, if this is Disney’s policy to protect its cast and crew on set, they have to stick to it, regardless of who it is.
The first season of “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” and the original three movies are available on Disney+.
In the first season, which is set in present day Minnesota, the Mighty Ducks have evolved from scrappy underdogs to an ultra-competitive, powerhouse youth hockey team. After 12-year-old Evan Morrow (Brady Noon) is unceremoniously cut from the Ducks, he and his mom, Alex (Lauren Graham), set out to build their own team of misfits to challenge the cutthroat, win-at-all-costs culture of youth sports today. With the help of Gordon Bombay, they rediscover the joys of playing just for love of the game.
What do you think of Emilio Estevez not returning to “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers”?
Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk
Now that we’re approaching hockey season, it’s time to get back into gear with one of the most iconic — if debatably talented — teams to ever hit the ice. Collider is excited to premiere an exclusive clip from season two of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, the Disney+ series that serves as a spinoff to the iconic ‘90s film series of the same name, so tie up your skates and get ready to hit the ice.
Now that Coach Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is off doing whatever things a lawyer-turned-hockey-coach-turned-something-else-ambiguous does in his spare time, he has been replaced by Josh Duhamel’s Coach Cole for season two, and it seems like Cole looks at hockey from a much more technical standpoint than Bombay ever did. Cole runs Epic, an elite summer program for youth hockey players, and the Ducks might be in over their heads facing off against him.
In the clip, the players have arrived at Epic for orientation, and Cole introduces them to their “performance bands,” a Fitbit-style piece of technology that tracks all kinds of health and stamina stats that ultimately decide their place in player rankings, which will then determine the teams they play on in tournaments later in the summer. (Yes, you heard that right: a lot of technical talk for pee-wee hockey.) While at first, the bands seem like good fun, the much more athletic players around them soon send the Ducks to the bottom of the rankings with their excessive exercising, proving that the plucky underdog team will have their work cut out for them over the summer.
Image via Disney+
Brady Noon, Maxwell Simkins, Swayam Bhatia, Luke Islam, Taegen Burns, and DJ Watts return to star in Game Changers season two, with Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham starring as their coach, Alex Morrow, and Naveen Paddock joining as a series regular. And while Estevez did not return for the series’ second season, the first episode did see the return of original Mighty Ducks stars Elden Henson and Aaron Lohr, aka the aggressive-but-lovable Bash Brothers from the original trilogy of films.
Game Changers is executive produced by Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith, who also serve as showrunners. Executive producers also include Graham, George Heller, Brad Petrigala, Jordan Kerner, Jon Avnet, and Steve Brill.
The first episode of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers season two is streaming on Disney+ now, with new episodes premiering weekly. Check out the exclusive clip below:
//youtu.be/mBCOLyN-uPc