Emilio Estevez has pitch for how to reboot 'The Mighty Ducks'

LOS ANGELES, May 3 (UPI) -- Emilio Estevez told UPI he would still return for another Mighty Ducks if Disney agreed to his pitch. Estevez starred in Season 1 of the Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers but declined to return for Season 2, and the streaming service has now canceled the show.

"I have my own pitch for how to reboot The Mighty Ducks and I have no ill will towards Disney," Estevez told UPI in a phone interview promoting the re-release of The Way.

Estevez added he is open to meeting with the CEO of Disney "if Bob Iger ever wants to sit down and talk about how to reboot the Ducks in a way that I think audiences would dig."

Estevez, who played hockey coach Gordon Bombay, said he felt Game Changers "didn't pay the proper homage to the movies. The fans were the first ones to tell us that. That is really the reason why I didn't return for the second season."

Season 1 of Game Changers had Bombay run his own ice rink, having left hockey behind. The Mighty Ducks had become a competitive team that excluded less skillful players from joining the team.

One way Estevez would get it right would be to ask Joshua Jackson to return in the role of Charlie. Jackson was a teenager in the movie trilogy and Estevez directed Jackson in the film Bobby.

"He's an actor who I hope to re-team with at some point in the future, maybe on the next Ducks movie or TV show," Estevez said. "To bring Josh back in, that's how we would start to get it right."

After Disney announced Estevez would not return for Season 2, Estevez told Deadline in a statement that "a good old fashioned contract dispute" and "a myriad of creative differences" led to his exit. Now, Estevez elaborated.

"It was painful," Estevez said. "It was painful to go to work on that set every day. It just was the writing and the execution."

Estevez also told Deadline that he had to film Season 1 while experiencing Long COVID after contracting the virus. Estevez said there was one positive about Season 1 of Game Changers.

"I came away with it having some great relationships with really wonderful directors, but that was it," Estevez said.

The Way returns to theaters May 16 and we'll have the full interview with Estevez on UPI ahead of that.