You Missed These Small Details In The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Trailer
The quack is back. Well, sort of. If you've watched the trailer for The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, the new series from Disney+ that will be released on the streaming service March 26, your inner Duck might have winced slightly. From the sounds of it, the Ducks have gotten a little too big for their britches since the salad days of the '92, '94, and '96 seasons — which is ironic, because ducks don't wear britches. (Everyone knows they wear hockey pads.)
The trailer for The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers opens with Alex, played by Lauren Graham, hustling her young son to hockey practice, hosted by a coach who — despite being in Ducks gear — is giving off major Team Iceland vibes. A kid explains that "the Ducks are a powerhouse organization" now, with a record number of state championships to their name. "Little different than the Ducks of the '90s," an off-screen voice remarks.
From there, the trailer goes on to outline the series' story, in which the Ducks seem to have turned into the bad guys. (Live long enough to see yourself become the villain, right?) Alex must channel some serious Hans (Joss Ackland) energy to assemble a ragtag group of underdogs (underducks?) to take the ice and hopefully take back the good Duck name.
Diehard Mighty Ducks fans will notice a few nostalgic nods in the short trailer — little touches that give every indication that respect will be paid to the original Mighty Ducks trilogy.
Little nods to the Ducks of yore
For starters, yes, that's Emilio Estevez back as Gordon Bombay, the attorney who began coaching hockey to fulfill his community service requirement following a run-in with the law. Pay close attention to the very first scene of the trailer for The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, and you'll notice that the main characters are rushing into the Hendrix Hockey Pavillion — so named for Hendrix Hockey, who sponsored Team USA at the Junior Goodwill Games in D2: The Mighty Ducks.
Elsewhere in the trailer, you'll see that Evan (Brady Noon), Alex's son who ventures to create his own hockey team after he gets booted from the Mighty Ducks roster, has a room full of Ducks gear. Clues like the Minnesota Wild cap behind Evan's bed and his mom's Golden Gophers hoodie point to a Minnesota setting, too.
What else in the trailer might have your Mighty Duck senses tingling? While producers were very careful to keep our heroes' team name hidden, there's at least one scene in which the protagonists take on the Hawks, the team that District Five's Pee Wee Hockey team battled in The Mighty Ducks. And when Alex finally tracks down Coach Bombay, who has apparently left his coaching position at St. Paul State, we get to hear Estevez give a new read of an old line: "I hate hockey, and I don't like kids." Give it time, Coach; we're thinking by the end of the series' ten-episode run, you might have a change of heart.
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers will premiere on Disney+ on March 26.