Why Winnie From The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Looks So Familiar
The comeback of a franchise can usually be pulled off when it fulfills two requirements: give us something we've never seen before, but make sure it's recognizable, too. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers – which comes to Disney+ on March 26 — checks those boxes with a reboot that reintroduces us to a comfortingly familiar underdog tale. Among the ragtag teammates and other cast members, it's also fun to pick out famous faces we know and love: Lauren Graham (best known as Lorelei on Gilmore Girls), Emilio Estevez (who played the original Ducks coach in the 1990s film franchise), and... hey wait a minute. Haven't we seen that actress playing Winnie before somewhere?
Hailing from hockey country, Canadian Em Haine may have come to this project with some knowledge of the sport. But more importantly, she's got acting chops. Here's how her career led to her latest role in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.
Em Haine was the butcher shop's best-loved vegetarian
In 2014, the dark comedy series Fargo debuted on FX and quickly collected Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. Inspired by the 1996 Coen brothers movie of the same name, the show featured new characters and a star-studded cast (including Billy Bob Thornton, Kirsten Dunst, and Ewan McGregor) over six seasons. Set in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Missouri, the series centered on mystery and murder, with a humorous twist.
By season two, Fargo had scooped up Haine as the quirky and sharp-witted Noreen Vanderslice in a storyline set in 1979. Noreen was an emancipated 17-year-old living on her own above Bud's Meats, the butcher shop. Despite her commitment to vegetarianism, she worked there as a cashier, too. Noreen was also known for her choice in heavy reading material, seen with Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus in her hands throughout the season.
"I think I'm as, maybe, peculiar as she is," Haine said of the character in a 2015 interview. "She definitely doesn't fit into any kind of box at all."
Em Haine made it to the Marvel universe
In 2016, Haine made her way to the big screen as Whisper Girlfriend in the blockbuster Deadpool. The eighth X-Men film focused on Wade Wilson's reincarnation as a Marvel universe antihero on a quest to find and destroy the man who disfigured him. Haine went on to appear as a barista in 2018's Tully, a real-world movie that told the story of an overwhelmed mother of three (Charlize Theron), who bonds with her much-needed nanny. The same year, Haine went back to comics-inspired drama, appearing in the CBS/CW series Supergirl, starring Melissa Benoist.
By 2019, Haine had landed a recurring role in the Canadian show Unspeakable, which focused on a tragic real-life horror story that occurred in the 1980s, when thousands of people were infected by tainted blood. Haine played Andrea Lambert, a lightly comedic scientist, who lifted the mood for viewers of this dark drama.
Em Haine survived a death scene, thanks to witchcraft
Also in 2019, Haine stepped into a fictional horror story with her recurring role as student witch Elspeth in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Based on the Archie comic book series, the show starred Kiernan Shipka in the title role and placed much of the action at The Academy of the Unseen Arts, a school for witches and warlocks that Elspeth and Sabrina attended together. The characters shared a quest for equality and the strength to stand up and fight for their beliefs.
Elspeth's big moment came during Chapter 17, "The Missionaries," when she lost her life in a dramatic battle. Miraculously, her character wasn't killed off, however. Instead, she was resurrected by Sabrina, an event that inevitably changed their developing friendship.
"Elspeth stood with her fellow witches and lost her life in the crossfire. It was horrifying and tragic, yet oddly validating," Haine told Daily Dead in 2019. "To be brought back to life was bewildering, buoyant, and humbling. I carry that perspective with me."