When I saw the first advertisement for The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, a Disney+ series, I was simultaneously annoyed and excited. Great, another revival and spin-off, just what we need. But I’m also a fan of the original films, so I was excited to see the return of a franchise that defined the 1990s in terms of children’s sports movies.

The original films, a trilogy released between 1992 and 1996, center around a poor, scraggly peewee hockey team in Minnesota. Gordon Bombay (played by Emilio Estevez) is a young, hot-shot lawyer who has a drunk-driving incident and comes to coach the team for his community service hours. Since he played hockey as a child and ended it on bad terms, he is hesitant to work with the sport again. But eventually, as is predictable in children’s movies, he warms up to them and coaches the team to a win against their rivals, the Hawks.

The sequel films, D2: The Mighty Ducks and D3: The Mighty Ducks, show the Ducks as an evolved team, competing on the international level in a mock Olympics, the Junior Goodwill Games. Following their win, they receive a scholarship to attend the prestigious private school Eden Hall and become their JV hockey team. The film series ended with the JV team beating Varsity, and the Eden Hall Warriors being renamed to the Eden Hall Ducks. And for 25 years, that was the happy ending to an already-iconic franchise.

The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers opens with an extremely competitive and dynasty-like Ducks hockey organization. A new generation of kids are vying for spots on the peewee level team, which is apparently the age-level where sports get serious for college scouting and professional careers. Our protagonist, Evan Morrow, is cut from the team, and his coach tells him “…at this stage, if you can’t be great at hockey, don’t bother.” His mother Alex, played by Lauren Graham, throws a fit that embarrassingly goes viral and holds a lot of truth – why can’t kids just play sports for fun? 

In response, she forms her own team for her son and all the other kids that have been told they weren’t good enough, and subsequently, the team is named the “Don’t Bothers.” There’s still one problem – Alex knows almost nothing about hockey, and she is expected to coach. Upon finding the Don’t Bother’s home rink, the Ice Palace, she encounters Gordon Bombay, who happens to own the place, and is now (again) a strong hater of hockey and children, as described in one of his lines that is a word-for-word throwback to the original film: “I hate hockey and I don’t like kids.” He is hesitant to host them at first, but slowly opens up to Alex and Evan and helps teach the kids how to play, as well as instilling the love of the sport in those who had played on the “new” Ducks.

The series, albeit a little stereotypical, also turns a lot of stereotypes and plot tropes on their heads. The Ducks are no longer the underdogs or the “good guys” as they were in the original films. Episode 6 of the series involves the return of several of the original Ducks as they attend a celebration for the anniversary of the team – they are taken aback by what the team has become and how hyper-focused the organization is on creating professional athletes. 

Another thing I love is how this series gives some personality and unusual traits to the kids on the team. Nick, Evan’s right-hand man, hosts a podcast about hockey in the area and is super passionate about the team. One of the girls, Maya, is a “popular” girl, but she doesn’t have to sacrifice her style and status to be a hockey player. Lauren is really into art and cosplay, but she still has a place on the team and is accepted by all the others.

The series is also a rare screen appearance for Emilio Estevez, as since the release of D3: The Mighty Ducks, he has gotten more comfortable behind the camera with directing and screenwriting, though he hasn’t deviated from acting entirely. Estevez is also notoriously not a fan of sequels to his films, but he came on board to this project because he liked how it “flipped the script” on the original series, and developed Bombay’s character.

The season ended with a few unanswered questions and some uncertainty about a second season. But on August 2nd, 2021, Disney officially announced the series had been renewed for season 2, set to premiere sometime in 2022.

The prospect of season 2 leaves some room for speculation as for what to expect in the next season. One thing a lot of fans felt was missing from the season was an appearance from Charlie Conway, the main Duck from the original series, played by a pre-Dawson’s Creek Joshua Jackson. While he was mentioned in the episode that featured the other Ducks and his absence has an explanation both in the story and real life, it wasn’t the same without him. Another piece that was left open was the budding romance between Alex and Bombay – this storyline will probably be more developed in the upcoming season as well.

While Game Changers is no Cobra Kai in terms of the cool factor and entertainment value, it is still a great spin-off and is bringing The Mighty Ducks franchise to a whole new generation, and not to mention appealing to a different demographic. Unlike a lot of other spin-offs, Game Changers doesn’t try to “raise the stakes” or evolve to fit its original audience. The series knows its place as family entertainment, and doesn’t try to “upgrade” it to be more serious than it needs to, which I think makes it a faithful sequel to the original trilogy.