Drake Mallard is coming out of hiding. Disney+ has greenlit an all-new Darkwing Duck animated series, a direct continuation of the 1990s Disney Afternoon staple rather than a from-scratch remake, and it arrives with a teaser and a full voice cast led by Mark Hamill.
Quick answer: The Darkwing Duck series is officially greenlit at Disney+, with Mark Hamill as Darkwing and Seth Rogen as Launchpad McQuack. No release date has been announced.
What the new Darkwing Duck series is about
The premise picks up the character three and a half decades later, and it is not kind to him. Darkwing has spent the last 35 years stuck in an alternate world where nobody has ever heard of him — no headlines, no fans, no spotlight. That is the worst possible fate for a hero whose ego has always been the joke.
He gets pulled back in by Duckie, a rebellious teenager who somehow knows everything about his heroic past. The two become an odd-couple pairing, and the stakes escalate from St. Canard street crime to saving the entire universe. Familiar villains Negaduck and Megavolt return as antagonists, and Darkwing reunites with Launchpad, Gosalyn, and Morgana along the way.
Darkwing Duck reboot voice cast
This is an entirely new lineup behind the microphones, headlined by an actor with a long history of voicing masked crusaders and their nemeses.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Mark Hamill | Drake Mallard / Darkwing Duck |
| Seth Rogen | Launchpad McQuack |
| Lizzy Caplan | Gosalyn Mallard |
| Lilimar | Duckie |
| Dan Stevens | Glade McTowers |
| Tiffany Shepis | Rosa |
| Kathryn Newton | Firecracker |
| Teo Briones | Timb |
| Tyler Dean Flores | Pondsy |
| Katie Rich | Officer Shanks |
| Nat Faxon | Officer Webb |
Hamill is best known in animation circles for Batman: The Animated Series and the Batman: Arkham games, which makes him a natural fit for a show that has always parodied caped vigilantes. Rogen, who recently appeared in The Muppet Show special, takes over Launchpad, while Caplan plays an older Gosalyn. Lilimar, heard in Inside Out 2, voices Duckie, a character created for this series.
Who is making the Darkwing Duck reboot
Sean Tretta (Star Trek: Picard) and Borja Peña Gorostegui (Lost & Crowned) are executive producers on the series. Point Grey Pictures is producing, with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee, and Gabby Grantham attached — the same shop behind The Boys, Invincible, and the Emmy-winning Muppet Show special for Disney+.
Tad Stones, who created the original 1990s show, is not running this one, but he consulted on the development of the new adventures and has given it his blessing.
I’m just as eager as any original-show fan to watch Darkwing become dangerous again in an entirely new series.
Stones framed the reboot as part of a longer tradition, comparing Darkwing to Robin Hood, Zorro, and Sherlock Holmes — characters repeatedly reinterpreted by new creators in new eras and, in this case, new universes. The Point Grey team’s reaction to the pitch was rather more concise: Disney said let’s get dangerous, and they said yes.
How the reboot connects to the original Darkwing Duck
The original series was produced by Disney Television Animation and ran for 91 episodes, premiering in 1991 and airing across Disney Channel, ABC, and syndication before wrapping in the mid-1990s. It was the first Disney Afternoon show built entirely as a genre parody, riffing on pulp heroes and Golden Age superheroes, with St. Canard standing in for Gotham City.
Its reach went well beyond television. A Darkwing Duck game landed on the NES in 1992 and the Game Boy in 1993, and the character headlined the Disney Afternoon comic line alongside Bonkers, Goof Troop, and TaleSpin. More recently, he resurfaced in the rebooted DuckTales.
Jim Cummings, the voice of Darkwing in the original run, is not part of the new cast.
Darkwing Duck release date on Disney+
There is no release date, and no release window either. The announcement covers the greenlight, the premise, and the cast, and nothing more specific has been confirmed about when episodes will land on the service.
In the meantime, the 1990s series is available to stream. You can start it from the original Darkwing Duck page on Disney+, which is also the quickest way to brush up on Negaduck and Megavolt before they return.