Lauren Graham strengthens The Mighty Ducks reboot’s can’t-miss status

Disney+’s The Mighty Ducks reboot series scores a slap shot with leading star Lauren Graham, elevating a nostalgic update to a must-watch event.

It looks like Lauren Graham will finally put Lorelai Gilmore’s ice skating skills, as honed by Luke’s homemade ice rink, to good use. Graham will headline the upcoming Disney+ reboot series of the iconic ’90s film series The Mighty Ducks, taking over the underdog whisperer role from Emilio Estevez. She’s lacing up her skates and returning to the Disney fold (15 years after appearing in The Pacifier) for a reboot series that’s suddenly even more can’t-miss than we’d imagined.

For a legacy property with a built-in fandom, finding a star who can bridge the gap between loyal fans and casual viewers poses quite the task. With two decades of TV mom-ing under her belt, Lauren Graham certainly bridges that gap. Not only will she attract a wider audience that wouldn’t have watched The Mighty Ducks reboot otherwise, she’s the pleasant surprise that reboot detractors will gladly champion and the rightful successor to Gordon Bombay, an entire generation’s favorite coach.

Graham will star in the series as Alex, a mom whose 12-year-old son, Evan (Brady Noon), finds himself benched from the competitive and esteemed Ducks youth hockey team. Alex and Evan take the loss as momentum and form a patchwork hockey team of misfits as the antithesis of the cutthroat culture of youth hockey. The series takes place in present-day Minnesota and turns the original iteration of the Mighty Ducks team on its head, a full-circle moment to explore.

Disney+ picked up the series for a 10-episode order and boasts the original franchise’s mastermind, Steve Brill, as a co-creator alongside showrunners and fellow co-creators Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa. Graham will also serve as a co-executive producer, as will Black-ish producer and director James Griffiths and The Mindy Project and Modern Family writer Michael Spiller.

While the behind-the-scenes team seems as solid as the Mighty Ducks team itself, the leading question on day-one fans’ minds will be which cast members, if any, will be returning?

As luck would have it, the word on the street is Emilio Estevez, the erstwhile Gordon Bombay, will appear in the upcoming reboot series. Seeing as the film’s creator has already boarded the reboot, a move that didn’t work out so well for Disney+’s Lizzie McGuire continuation, getting the key fixtures on board to honor the pop culture classic isn’t as much of a priority as it is a necessity.

Still, regardless of Estevez’s potential return, Disney has been making some seriously wise casting choices with its upcoming slate of reboots/sequels/revivals. Along with beloved TV veteran Graham headlining The Mighty Ducks, Disney scored a big win when Rick Moranis signed on for Shrunk, the forthcoming theatrical Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel starring Josh Gad. When the right talent climbs aboard a franchise project, audiences know they aren’t messing around.

And audiences can trust Lauren Graham. She first rose to fame in Gilmore Girls, a series that needs no introduction, and later starred in Netflix’s hotly discussed revival. Following her turn as a complicated young mother, she appeared in NBC’s devastatingly underrated Parenthood as another complicated single mother, Sarah Braverman. Currently, she appears in NBC’s musical dramedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist in a recurring capacity, making way for her newest turn as a TV mom.

There’s no mincing words about the enduring popularity of The Mighty Ducks. Its legacy lives on with a fervent passion in those who were raised on all three films (which won’t arrive on Disney+ for streaming until summer 2020 and early 2021) and even an animated series. News of the reboot prior to Graham’s casting was cause for cautious anticipation, the general reaction when a property held close to the heart risks being tampered with for a new generation.

But there’s also zero denying that Lauren Graham will bring in a viewership that didn’t even have The Mighty Ducks on its radar, a viewership that could also check out the trilogy and walk away a new fan. Those newbies will never have the same history or relationship with the source material, but the diehard Ducks fans who haven’t watched Gilmore Girls will never know the struggle of Luke and Lorelai’s seven-season will-they-or-won’t-they. Yet, we’re all following to where she’s leading.

The Mighty Ducks reboot series will debut on Disney+ later this year.