Nearly 30 years before he first portrayed Gordon Bombay in 1992’s The Mighty Ducks, Emilio Estevez reveals why he agreed to return.
The 58-year-old actor returns as Bombay, who started The Mighty Ducks hockey team that has since gone on to become an elite traveling team.
Estevez revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that he has said no to reboots and revivals in the past, before returning with this new Disney Plus series, which debuted this past Friday.
Emilio’s return: Nearly 30 years before he first portrayed Gordon Bombay in 1992’s The Mighty Ducks, Emilio Estevez reveals why he agreed to return
Gordon returns: The 58-year-old actor returns as Bombay, who started The Mighty Ducks hockey team that has since gone on to become an elite traveling team
The original movie debuted in 1992, featuring Estevez’s character Gordon Bombay, a lawyer who is arrested for drunk driving and sentence to serve 500 hours of community service.
He’s sentenced to coach a ragtag hockey team known as The Mighty Ducks, as he leads them to greatness.
Estevez did return as Bombay in 1994’s D2: The Mighty Ducks and 1996’s D3: The Mighty Ducks, though he still doesn’t typically respond to sequels well.
Original movie: He’s sentenced to coach a ragtag hockey team known as The Mighty Ducks, as he leads them to greatness
Sequel: Estevez did return as Bombay in 1994’s D2: The Mighty Ducks and 1996’s D3: The Mighty Ducks, though he still doesn’t typically respond to sequels well
‘Over the years, there have been a lot of reunions, whether it was through the Anaheim Ducks or various charities. Famously, I have rejected all of those, whether it’s a reunion for Breakfast Club or The Outsiders or St. Elmo’s Fire or Young Guns, all of them,’ Estevez said.
‘Fortunately I’ve been able to have starred in movies that have stood the test of time and have a long shelf life, so a lot of folks have wanted to see reunions of where are they now,’ he added.
‘So on one hand, it’s a blessing to have been involved in that but on the other hand, it’s like, I rarely, if ever, participate. So to come back do a Mighty Ducks reunion with replaying this role was a big step,’ Estevez continued.
Reunions: ‘Over the years, there have been a lot of reunions, whether it was through the Anaheim Ducks or various charities. Famously, I have rejected all of those, whether it’s a reunion for Breakfast Club or The Outsiders or St. Elmo’s Fire or Young Guns, all of them,’ Estevez said
Estevez reunited with original Mighty Ducks writer Steven Brill for the new series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, which came together while they were filming their 2018 film The Public, which Brill wrote and directed.
‘While I was doing The Public, I was just not in the headspace for it. I didn’t really see where they were going to go with Bombay, I sort of thought we had played him out,’ Estevez added.
‘Steven and the writers started talking to me about this idea that Bombay has been hiding out, that hockey hasn’t been good to him in the last couple of decades, that he’s this guy who’s living on the outskirts of town and not really engaging with people,’ Estevez continued.
New series: Estevez reunited with original Mighty Ducks writer Steven Brill for the new series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, which came together while they were filming their 2018 film The Public, which Brill wrote and directed
‘He’s not married. He doesn’t have any kids. He’s a bit of a mystery in terms of where he’s been. But it wasn’t a good place; it was a much darker place than the last time we saw Bombay. And that appealed to me,’ he added.
Estevez added that Bombay is, ‘trying to keep the Ice Palace together with duct tape and prayer.’
‘The fact that we were going to revisit this guy but so different than the last time we saw him? It’s certainly not what we expect. But what I like is that there’s 10 episodes that we had to discover where he’s been and ultimately where he’s going,’ he added.
The second episode of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changer, entitled Dusters, debuts Friday, April 1 on Disney Plus.
Mystery: ‘He’s not married. He doesn’t have any kids. He’s a bit of a mystery in terms of where he’s been. But it wasn’t a good place; it was a much darker place than the last time we saw Bombay. And that appealed to me,’ he added