Over the more than 100 years that the Walt Disney Company has existed, it has produced numerous iconic characters. None of them hold a candle to the success of Mickey Mouse, of course, but before Mickey, there was another that not everybody knows about. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was Walt Disney’s first creation, and nearly a century later, Oswald is reportedly coming back.
Earlier this week, it was reported that a Disney+ animated series based on The Princess and the Frog’s Tiana had been shelved, but today, Deadline says another animated character will be getting his own show instead. Jon Favreau is reportedly writing and producing the new series that will combine animation with live-action.
It’s an interesting choice to focus a new series around a character who is nearly 100 years old, one that many audiences won’t know, but this isn’t even the first time that a new series based on Oswald has been proposed, and I think it’s all because Disney CEO Bob Iger is a big Oswald fan.
Bob Iger Brought Oswald Back To Disney
The story of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is the story of the birth of Mickey Mouse himself. While Walt Disney and his animating partner Ub Iwerks developed the look and style of the character in the 1920s, it was owned by Universal, who the Disney Brothers Studio was working for. Ultimately, Walt lost Oswald in a power struggle with his distributor, driving him to develop a new character, who became Mickey Mouse.
Decades later, in one of the strangest deals in Hollywood history, Disney CEO Bob Iger would trade the contract of sportscaster Al Michaels to Universal-owned NBC for, among other things, the rights to Oswald the Lucky the Rabbit and all the original cartoons that Walt and his animators had created.
Why did Bob Iger do this? Well, because he made a promise to Walt Disney’s daughter. Upon the return of Oswald to Disney, Diane Disney Miller said…
When Bob was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word.
Whatever it was that made Bob Iger a big fan of Oswald, he clearly was one. Oswald would go on to appear in the Epic Mickey video game and its sequel, as well as various merchandise. He’s also a character in the parks, often found at Disney’s California Adventure.
Iger Gave The Greenlight to An Oswald Series Once Already
But that’s not the end of the story because the new Disney+ series based on Oswald actually isn’t the first time that such a show had been planned. Back in 2021, we learned that another Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series had been in development for Disney+. Bob Iger was reportedly a big proponent of the concept.
However, that project fell apart. While it’s unclear why, Bob Iger was no longer CEO at the time that we learned the project was dead. At that point, the job belonged to Bob Chapek. Now Iger is CEO again, and a new Oswald series is in early production. A coincidence? Maybe, but I doubt it.
As a fan of Disney history, and Oswald specifically, I’m excited about this new show. I just hope it actually happens. Bob Iger is set to leave Disney again at the end of 2026, and without Oswald’s champion running the show, anything could happen.
