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If you've been paying attention to the news coming out of this month's D23 event, then you might have heard about plans for a new live-action animated comedy based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks's pre-Mickey creation.
The project, which is being led by Jon Favreau (the director of Disney's "live-action" remakes of The Jungle Book and The Lion King), is set to debut on Disney+ next year, on February 17th, 2027, and is being pitched as a return for the character "lost to history."
From what we've seen online, the reaction to this news has mostly been positive, with people happy to see Oswald return to the spotlight once again, but there have also been some objections raised over how the project is being positioned, with Disney being accused of sweeping the Epic Mickey series under the rug to make the announcement seem more impactful.
This has inevitably rubbed a few people the wrong way, including, most notably, Warren Spector, who helped bring the game back from obscurity in the 2010s, along with a team of other talented individuals at his former studio, Junction Point.
Taking to LinkedIn, Spector wrote:
"So Jon Favreau just previewed his upcoming Oswald the Lucky Rabbit mini-series (coming in 2027). I’m seriously looking forward to it but it seems as if people are looking at it as the debut of the character. Call me small-minded but that ain’t right.
In the Epic Mickey game — released in 2010 — the team at Junction Point featured Oswald in his first Disney role since 1928. Two years later, in Epic Mickey: The Power of Two, we gave him a voice (thanks to the incredible talent of Frank Welker). That was the first time he ever spoke in a Disney story. And just to put a cherry on top, we gave Ortensia her name, her voice, her personality and her role as Oswald’s paramour. None of that dates back to Disney.
I have to admit that I’m a little bitter about the lack of credit the team gets for all this. I was blown away that Disney trusted us and saw fit to reintroduce the little guy in a game. But the team did a great job and deserves to be recognised for it before Hollywood makes people forget the games ever existed.
Whew! Glad to get that out of my system!"
Looking at the wave of publicity that has come out of D23, I can definitely see where Spector is coming from.
In the red carpet-style interviews that followed, Favreau repeatedly played up the character's obscurity, stating that those "who grew up watching [Oswald]" are no longer alive, and nobody really knows "the character," seemingly ignoring the way in which Epic Mickey reintroduced the character and his original shorts to a whole new generation through these games.
Following Epic Mickey, the character didn't just become a presence in games, either, but also ended up receiving tie-in graphic novels based on the two games in the series, inspired attractions and merchandise in Disney parks, and even received a new animated short. This seems to have been glossed over, though, in favour of pursuing a very particular promotional angle.
It was only when an interviewer at Deadline brought up these other projects to Favreau that he finally seemed to acknowledge them, saying, "[people] may have seen him pop in the parks, animation, or in games," before quickly navigating the conversation back to the character's age and the story of Disney losing the rights.
As a fan of both Oswald the character and the Epic Mickey series, I'm hoping this is just a momentary blip, and we see more acknowledgement of Oswald's recent history in the run-up to the show next year.