Disney’s Mighty Ducks were left to wander the ice when the actor who played their coach, Emilio Estevez, lost his job on The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers series. Initially we heard that Estevez refused to comply with the vaccine mandate, but he half denied that, citing long covid. Fortunately, the Ducks have found their new coach. Newly engaged Josh Duhamel is filling the spot. Josh will play Gavin Cole, a former professional hockey player. Josh is available because his big Netflix show, Jupiter’s Legacy, got cancelled. But Jupiter’s loss is the Duck’s gain. Fortunately, Disney is rewriting season two around the new character and not just trying to shoehorn him into the existing story.

The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers went through a massive change between Seasons 1 and 2 when star Emilio Estevez’s departure was announced. As the face of the franchise and arguably the biggest name attached to the Disney+ series, losing Estevez raised the big question of who could possibly fill his shoes… or hockey skates, as the case may be. Now, the show has cast none other than Transformers and Jupiter’s Legacy alum Josh Duhamel to replace Estevez.

That’s not to say that Duhamel will be playing Gordon Bombay in a recast, however. THR reports that he has been cast to star in Season 2 as a former pro hockey player who has become a coach. Named Gavin Cole, he applies the lessons he learned (and teaches) from hockey to life, and has a knack for inspiring and charming… while also getting intense about the training for the Mighty Ducks in the next chapter of their story on Disney+.

The Mighty Ducks players wind up training under Gave Cole when they head to a hockey institute for a summer camp, which will be the setting of Season 2 in a departure from the first season. Still, there will be familiar faces from the Season 1 cast of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, including Gilmore Girls’ alum Lauren Graham. She previously had to leave behind a role on NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist to come to the Disney+ show.

[From CinemaBlend]

I haven’t watched The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers yet, so I a commenting from a outsider’s perspective, but this sounds like a clever approach. First off, I think Lauren Graham and Josh will play very well off each other. And I like changing the venue for the show and having the kids come to Cole’s turf. It’s smart to shake it up because Coach Bombay was such an established character and the heart of the team. Josh playing an ex-pro coach at a hockey institute sounds intriguing. Plus, Josh is always nice to look at. This is where I remind you that I once stood in a kitchen not three feet from him. He was holding his little sausage dog at the time and OMG, the man is sex on legs. I know the rumors, which are probably all true. But let me tell you, I get why people would ignore the rumors for a shot with him, too.

As mentioned above, Josh is engaged to his 28-year-old fiancée, Audra Mari. Since we know Josh was scouting a baby-making partner, I assume that a secure TV series falls right into Josh’s procreating schedule.

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