Something about the Emilio-free trailer for Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ second season calls to mind a bit of dialogue from the American comedy classic A Night At The Roxbury. Attempting to impress a young woman, Doug Butabi (Will Ferrell) tells of a chance encounter at a payphone when a mysterious man on the phone “turns around and tips his hat.” Who was it? Why it was none other than Emilio Estevez, the Mighty Duck man himself.
Scream “Emilio!” all you want, but it’s not going to change the fact that he’s gone from the Mighty Ducks universe and is not in the trailer for the new season. Last year, either due to his refusal to comply with vaccination requirements on set or “old-fashioned contract disputes” and “a myriad of creative differences,” Estevez opted not to return. So be it. It’s knuckle puck time, right?
How do you replace Emilio? With Lauren Graham and Josh Duhamel, of course. Originally cast as the replacement for Casey Conway (Heidi Cling), Estevez’s love interest in the first and third Mighty Duck films, Graham steps into the Coach Bombay skates. Unfortunately, she decided to take her ragtag team of misfits to an elite summer camp, where Josh Duhamel forces kids to watch pizza get thrown away. Why do parents keep doing this? Haven’t they seen Heavyweights?
It’s unclear if any of the original Ducks will make an appearance this season. However, the introductory one featured quite a few, including Marguerite Moreau.
While it seems strange to have a Mighty Ducks thing without Emilio Estevez, it wouldn’t be the first time. There was that cartoon series that featured anthropomorphic intergalactic hockey-playing ducks that save the universe. Also, there was Mighty Ducks 3, a movie that this author’s grandmother once called a “rip-off” because Emilio Estevez was barely in it.
Mighty Ducks: Game Changers returns to Disney+ on September 28.