Disney Greenlights Long-Rumored Darkwing Duck Reboot Starring Mark Hamill & Seth Rogen

Disney announced that the long-rumored, all-new “Darkwing Duck” series has been greenlit for Disney+, bringing back Drake Mallard, plus his friends and foes. While we don’t typically report on streaming, we wanted to draw your attention to this news for a couple of reasons. Before we cover that in the commentary, let’s start with the announcement.

This action-packed continuation of the beloved “Darkwing Duck” franchise comes from Sean Tretta (“Star Trek: Picard”) and Borja Peña Gorostegui (“Lost & Crowned”), who both serve as executive producers. Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee and Gabby Grantham are producing for Point Grey Pictures. Tad Stones is the creator of the original “Darkwing Duck” series and consulted on the development of his new adventures.

For the last 35 years, the iconic crime-fighter 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 lead cast of the “Darkwing Duck” series reboot features the following:

• Mark Hamill (“Batman: The Animated Series,” “Batman: Arkham Asylum”) as Drake Mallard aka Darkwing Duck
• Seth Rogen (“The Muppet Show”) as Launchpad McQuack
• Lizzy Caplan (“Party Down”) as Gosalyn Mallard
• Lilimar (“Inside Out 2”) as Duckie
• Dan Stevens (“Onslaught”) as Glade McTowers
• Tiffany Shepis (“Star Trek: Picard”) as Rosa
• Kathryn Newton (“Avengers: Doomsday”) as Firecracker
• Teo Briones (“Final Destination Bloodlines”) as Timb
• Tyler Dean Flores (“Neon”) as Pondsy
• Katie Rich (“Saturday Night Live”) as Officer Shanks
• Nat Faxon (“The Descendants”) as Officer Webb

Notably absent from the cast is Jim Cummings, who will not be reprising his role as Drake Mallard. That comes against the backdrop of what seems to be a rift between him and Disney, following the veteran voice actor being snubbed for the Disney Legend honor.

Cummings spoke with Collider late last month about the then-rumored reboot, revealing that he was no longer a part of it. “I hope they get…everything they deserve. Crazy, I don’t know what to tell you,” Cummings told Collider. Up until earlier this year, Cummings had been discussing the project as if it were still happening and he were a part of it.

Following those reports, there was been a grassroots fan campaign in support of Jim Cummings and protesting Disney’s acts (and, I guess, omissions) against him. That’ll undoubtedly cast a cloud over this news, and make it controversial among at least a subset of fans. I personally don’t have any opinion on this one way or another; Cummings is one of the all-time great voice actors, as is Hamill.

“Disney said ‘Let’s get dangerous’ and we said ‘hell yeah’,” shared the Point Grey team in announcing the reboot.

“Like every other fan of the original show, I’m excited to see Darkwing getting dangerous again in a whole new series,” said Tad Stones. “The new creative team has certainly amped up the action and comedy without forgetting the Disney heart.”

This series places “Darkwing Duck” 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.

Produced by Disney Television Animation, the Emmy Award-nominated original “Darkwing Duck” series ran for 91 episodes. It originally premiered on Disney Channel, then aired on ABC and in syndication beginning in 1991. The ABC run concluded in 1993, with the syndication run wrapping up in 1995. It made a brief return to syndication from 1996 to 1997.

Beyond television, the series made a significant impact in the world of video games, with the release of “Darkwing Duck” for the Nintendo NES (1992) and Game Boy (1993). The character also made his mark in the Disney Afternoon “Fun-Filled 1st Issue!” comic book in November 1994, appearing alongside other beloved Disney characters like Bonkers, the Goof Troop and TaleSpin in Volume 1, No. 1. In recent years, the iconic character has appeared in the latest iteration of “DuckTales.” The original “Darkwing Duck” series is now available on the flagship Disney+ streaming service.

Point Grey Pictures, the production company Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg founded with partner and president James Weaver, produces bold, multi-genre film and television content driven by authentic storytelling. The company’s Apple TV+ comedy, The Studio, earned 23 Emmy nominations, including Best Comedy Series, and secured a second-season renewal. Because obviously such a critically-acclaimed, award-winning show would get picked up for a chance to run it back.

Point Grey most recently produced a special event installment of The Muppet Show for Disney+, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the original series and featured special guest Sabrina Carpenter. The Muppet Show special snagged six 2026 Emmy Award nominations and won four of them. It earned the most trophies of any program across the Disney portfolio (4 of 17 wins).

Despite this, The Muppet Show revival has not been picked up for a full series order. According to Deadline, there have been difficulties “cracking a premise” for an ongoing Muppet Show series that Disney, The Muppets Studio and Point Grey will all be on board for. (Quick aside: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! “The Muppet Show” is the premise. They’ve already cracked the code…and won four awards with it!)

Point Grey has created a laundry list of other franchise powerhouses, which have also won Emmy awards. All of that is beyond the scope of this post, but it bears emphasizing that they are quite prolific, with a wide range of output from juvenile comedies to prestige television and awards bait. And hopefully, a series run of The Muppet Show, whenever Disney comes to its senses.

Our Commentary

The new “Darkwing Duck” series from Point Grey announcement comes nearly six years after Variety reported the project was in development at Disney+ back in November 2020. That was about a month before then CEO Bob Chapek held Disney’s Investor Day, an event meant to hype people up about the company’s direct-to-consumer business during the COVID era.

During that, Disney announced what felt like thousands of shows, and threw piles of money at any project that was even one-quarter baked. Except “Darkwing Duck.” Fast-forward 6 years, and the many mistakes and missteps of the Umbrella Man are finally being fixed. D’Amaro, Walden, or whoever has finally greenlit the “Darkwing Duck” reboot, to much rejoicing among fans.

You know what else from Point Grey was rumored years ago and has been in development purgatory for several years? The Figment feature film.

First revealed in 2022, Seth Rogen just gave an “update” on his long-delayed Journey Into Imagination movie adaptation a couple of weeks ago. That came during a press junket at the Toronto International Film Festival, during which a member of the media asked about the project status.

Rogen didn’t really say much, beyond, “Let me get back to you on that. Let me kick the tires on that one!”

Obviously, this was a fairly non-committal answer. Rogen did not confirm that the movie is moving forward, but he also didn’t come out and say that the project is dead, which is likely what he would’ve said were it cancelled completely. Instead, his evasive answer suggested the project is still stuck in development purgatory after 4 years of radio silence.

The “Darkwing Duck” reboot finally coming to fruition after 6 years in limbo suggests that there really is a chance for the Figment film. Perhaps the new leadership is working through the backlog of projects that were proposed during the height of the streaming frenzy, and then subsequently shelved when reality set in, to determine what’s actually viable.

It also reinforces the notion, which we previously stressed, that Disney should want to be in the Seth Rogen business. He’s on a winning streak, and it would be foolish of Disney to squander any opportunity it has to work with him.

It also pretty conclusively establishes that there are not irreparable creative differences between Point Grey and Disney, which could be preventing The Muppet Show from moving forward. Although this announcement revolves around the iconic crimefighter, it’s also good news for those other (potential) projects.

Finally, and most importantly to this elder millennial, it definitely means more Darkwing Duck! I’ve mentioned before how I grew up during the heyday of the Disney Afternoon, which was every bit as formative in my fandom as the Disney Renaissance era animated films.

I still fondly remember going into Mickey’s Starland/Birthdayland when it was relatively new and marveling at Mickey’s Starland Afternoon Show. At the time, I thought it was about the coolest thing ever (a recent review of photos dispute that). It featured everyone’s favorite characters from Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, DuckTales, TaleSpin, DarkWing Duck, Goof Troop, and Bonkers.

These shows were brilliant and the pinnacle of television programming, as far as I was concerned. I can’t remember what the Starland Afternoon Show was actually about, and it might’ve just been a glorified dance party. Honestly, I’d be fine with a new glorified dance party featuring Disney Afternoon stars for Cool Kids’ Summer 2027 at Walt Disney World. It would beat a bunch of Disney Channel characters that I don’t recognize.

Regardless, I cannot wait to introduce our daughter to Darkwing Duck, hopefully both on Disney+ and in the parks. I’m also cautiously optimistic that this will open the door on more Disney Afternoon reboots, as there are undoubtedly countless people my age who’d likewise love to raise their kids right with life lessons from the Rescue Rangers, TailSpin, etc.

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Your Thoughts

Surprised that the long-rumored “Darkwing Duck” reboot is finally moving forward? Think this bodes well for the Figment film by Seth Rogen? Are you excited for more Disney Afternoon? Skeptical? A little of both? Any other thoughts, insights, etc? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!