One of Disney's original cartoon characters is getting his own show from a notable Marvel/Star Wars creator!
Disney+ is home to scores of shows and movies based on Disney's wide range of animated characters. From classic ones to new ones like Bluey, Disney+ is on the lookout for more properties. Now, per Deadline, Disney is planning a new series based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It's described as a live-action/animation hybrid which is an interesting direction.
The show will be headlined by Jon Favreau, a name many will know. The writer/director/actor basically kick-started the MCU with 2008's Iron Man, which he directed and played Happy Hogan.
Favreau then began Disney+'s Star Wars series as producer/writer on The Mandalorian and built that entire division up well. He also directed the live-action versions of The Jungle Book and The Lion King so he knows how to mix animation and live-action well. The man is well regarded for his great work with special effects projects and seems a good choice for this.
It helps that he's working with one of the more unique characters in Disney lore who has a very intriguing connection to the company.
Who is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit?
Way back in 1927, Walt Disney was a talented young animator starting to make his way in the growing motion picture industry. He crafted Oswald, a rabbit-like character who was pretty self-absorbed even as he tried to do well at various jobs.
Disney used then-groundbreaking techniques in animating Oswald, inspired by the movies of the time. That created a vibrant character featured in 27 short films and while not a true hero, he was a popular figure. However, in 1928, Universal Studios wanted to take more control over Oswald. The complex legal wrangling would take way too long to explain but it boiled down to Walt deciding to quit the studio.
As he headed home, Walt decided to create a new character, one more sympathetic than Oswald, one that could captivate audiences. A character introduced in the first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie.
Yes, if not for Universal taking Oswald away from Walt, the world would never have gotten Mickey Mouse and the course of pop culture would have been changed forever.
Universal would redesign Oswald and push him in a total of 194 cartoons animated by future stars such as the legendary Tex Avery. However, Oswald would always be in the shadow of Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the rest of the Disney animated pantheon.
The Oswald cartoons petered out in the 1930s and the coming of World War II ended them for good. The character would pop up in random cartoons but Universal wasn't interested in promoting a creation of Walt Disney.
In 2006, Bob Iger fulfilled a promise by arranging a "trade" with Universal to reacquire the rights to Oswald. The first use was a DVD collection of the original Walt cartoons. Oswald was also a starring character in the fantastic Epic Mickey games and has popped up as a character at some parks.
This series is an interesting way to present Oswald to a new generation. There are little details on the plot, but a fun idea could be inspired by the classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a world where humans and animated characters co-exist.
Oswald may be a character who's long been in the shadow of Mickey and wants to do his own thing. It's tricky to tell for now, but it's also wonderful that Disney is finally giving Walt's original creation the attention he deserves.