Disney+ has ordered a new Darkwing Duck animated series, with Mark Hamill voicing Drake Mallard, the caped duck who first hit TV in 1991. Seth Rogen voices Launchpad McQuack, Lizzy Caplan plays Gosalyn Mallard, and Lilimar (Val in Inside Out 2) joins as Duckie, a new character created for this version.
The story picks up decades after the original. Darkwing has spent the last 35 years trapped in an alternate world where nobody has heard of him. Duckie, a rebellious teenager who knows all about his old exploits, tracks him down and pulls him back into hero work. The two take on returning villains Negaduck and Megavolt and reunite with Launchpad, Gosalyn and Morgana, with the whole universe at stake.
The Rest of the Cast
Dan Stevens voices Glade McTowers, Tiffany Shepis plays Rosa, Kathryn Newton is Firecracker, Teo Briones is Timb, Tyler Dean Flores is Pondsy, and Katie Rich and Nat Faxon round things out as Officer Shanks and Officer Webb.
Hamill has voiced the Joker since Batman: The Animated Series premiered in 1992, a year after Darkwing Duck debuted. Now he gets the lead in a show whose hero started out as a send-up of Batman and The Shadow. Jim Cummings, who voiced Darkwing across all 91 original episodes, is not part of the announced cast.
Six Years in Development
The revival was first announced in 2020 from Disney Branded Television and Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures, and the same team carried it to a series order. Rogen produces alongside Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee and Gabby Grantham. Sean Tretta (Star Trek: Picard) and Borja Peña Gorostegui (Lost & Crowned) are executive producers.
The Point Grey team’s statement borrowed Darkwing’s catchphrase: “Disney said ‘Let’s get dangerous’ and we said ‘hell yeah.’”
Tad Stones, who created the original series, consulted on the new one. He said the new creative team pushed the action and comedy further while keeping the Disney heart intact, and compared Darkwing to Robin Hood, Zorro and Sherlock Holmes, characters that different creators have reworked by dropping them into new eras, relationships and universes.
Where Darkwing Has Been
The original Darkwing Duck ran for 91 episodes, starting on the Disney Channel and moving to ABC from 1991 to 1993. The character later showed up in video games and comic books, and Drake Mallard got a new origin in Disney’s 2017 DuckTales reboot, voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos.
Disney+ has not announced a premiere date or episode count for the new series.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter | Deadline | Variety | Disney+ Press | Gizmodo | ABC7 | UPI
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