Emilio Estevez on why he left The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers

UPDATE: Emilio Estevez clarified the circumstances surrounding his departure from The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers today via a lengthy statement made to Deadline. He started off by saying that he’s “not anti-vaxx”, before relating his own history as a Covid-19 “long-hauler”

On March 17, 2020 I got word I had indeed contracted Covid 19. Thankfully I refrained from visiting my elderly parents and others until I received my results. I had discussions with doctors and contact tracing personnel from the L.A. County Department of Health.

I suffered the summer and fall of 2020 from what we now know as “Long Haul Syndrome.”

He went on to explain that he felt uncomfortable returning to the set in August 2020, but did so anyway:

So, I returned to Vancouver. I followed the Canadian quarantine mandate as well as the strict “Zone A” on set Covid protocols. I did not complain, nor did I release my diagnosis to the public. I wanted to try and preserve the show morale and be a leader, however, while still suffering from Long Haul Syndrome. The legacy of the franchise was more important to me than my own health.

In retrospect, I wrongly chose to protect the show over being transparent about having contracted Covid-19. I may have provided another public example to wit, how we are all vulnerable to this deadly disease.

The quoted “anonymous sources,” producers and show runners all know the truth.

Simply put, I am anti-bully.

In the end, he thanked everyone involved for allowing him to return to the part after so many years, and wished the cast good luck on season 2. If the show continues, hopefully he’ll be able to eventually return to the fold once the pandemic is behind us.

ORIGINAL POST:

Gordon Bombay has been benched. Deadline has reported that Emilio Estevez will not be returning for season 2 of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.

Emilio Estevez reprised his role of Gordon Bombay for The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers on Disney+, but with production on season 2 amping up, it seems that the team will have to find a new coach. Like most Disney TV shows, The Mighty Ducks series has a mandatory vaccination policy for the cast and crew in Zone A (all actors and the crew who come into direct contact with them), but according to Deadline’s sources, Emilio Estevez “declined to provide assurances that he would comply with the policy.” As a result, Disney decided not to pick up the actor’s option and will rewrite the scripts for The Mighty Ducks season 2. Other sources say that those dreaded “creative differences” may have also played a role in Estevez’s departure.

The first season of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers was set in present-day Minnesota and found the Mighty Ducks having evolved from scrappy underdogs to an ultra-competitive, powerhouse youth hockey team. After 12-year-old Evan Morrow (Brady Noon) is unceremoniously cut from the Ducks, he and his mom, Alex (Lauren Graham), set out to build their own team of misfits to challenge the cutthroat, win-at-all-costs culture of youth sports today. With the help of Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), they rediscover the joys of playing just for love of the game. The first season saw several members from the cast of the original Mighty Ducks movies return and it’s expected that the new season will feature a few more, but it’s a shame that Gordon Bombay won’t be there to welcome them. Production on The Mighty Ducks season 2 is expected to kick off in early 2022.