Mark Hamill is Darkwing Duck in new greenlit series for Disney+

From a plume of smoke, he appears once more to right wrongs, crush evildoers, and somehow manage to look both dashing and ridiculous in his giant, floppy fedora: Darkwing Duck lives again in a new animated series for Disney+, the streamer announced Tuesday. Mark Hamill replaces former voice actor Jim Cummings in the dual role of Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck, with executive producer Seth Rogen voicing Launchpad McQuack, Lizzy Caplan voicing Drake’s adopted daughter Gosalyn, and Lilimar (Inside Out 2) voicing a new character, Duckie. 

According to the logline below, Duckie, described by Disney as a “rebellious teen” (what’s wrong with “plucky”?), is central to this new series, which follows Drake Mallard in an alternate reality where—gasp! sob!—no one has ever heard of Darkwing Duck. (A reality this writer’s mom would no doubt have appreciated when the original series first aired on ABC from 1991 to 1992.) Here’s the logline in full:

“For the last 35 years, Darkwing Duck has been trapped in his worst nightmare: an alternate world that’s never heard of his superhero exploits. Now a rebellious teen named Duckie who knows all about his heroic past shows up to pull this ego-fueled vigilante back into battle. Together, this unlikely duo will get dangerous to fight old enemies like Negaduck and Megavolt and reunite with allies Launchpad, Gosalyn and Morgana to save the entire universe.”

The new Duck comes from Borja Peña Gorostegui (Lost & Crowned) and Sean Tretta, who’s certainly no stranger to revisiting beloved characters long past their prime: Tretta served as a series writer and executive producer for Star Trek: Picard during its third season. Rogen, with Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee, and Gabby Grantham, will produce for Point Grey Pictures, with Darkwing Duck creator Tad Stones consulting on development. Disney didn’t skimp on its expanded cast, adding new characters voiced by Dan Stevens (RoboCop) as the presumably evil Glade McTowers, Tiffany Shepis (Picard) as Rosa, Kathryn Newton (Freaky, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania) as Firecracker, Teo Briones (Final Destination Bloodlines) as Timb, Tyler Dean Flores (Neon) as Pondsy, Katie Rich (SNL) as Officer Shanks, and Nat Faxon (The Descendants) as Officer Webb. As for who’ll voice DW stalwarts Megavolt, Gizmoduk, and Morgana Macawber, we’ll just have to wait for further announcements. (One assumes Hamill could pull double-duty as Negaduck.)

Stones expressed his enthusiasm in the official release. “Like every other fan of the original show, I’m excited to see Darkwing getting dangerous again… The new creative team has certainly amped up the action and comedy without forgetting the Disney heart. This series places DW in the literary tradition of Robin Hood, Zorro, and Sherlock Holmes, heroes whose lore has been reinterpreted by multiple creators in multiple mediums. They explored the core of those characters by tossing them into new eras, new relationships, and even new universes. No matter when or where, Darkwing Duck will appear in a cloud of blue smoke to grab the spotlight.”

“Disney said ‘Let’s get dangerous,’ and we said, ‘hell yeah,’” Point Grey said, presumably all at once, in the announcement, possibly hinting at an even saltier version of DW than we’ve seen before. Just don’t go “reimagining” his theme song, everybody. You can’t fix perfection. 

Here’s your first look at the new Darkwing Duck, courtesy of Disney: