Many years ago there was reports that Disney was working on a new cartoon series based on “Oswald The Lucky Rabbit”, who was created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, but the animated project was cancelled many years ago, though we did see the character make a cameo in the hit animated short, “Once Upon a Studio” to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary.

According to a new report from Deadline, Jon Favreau is developing a new series for Disney+ based on the classic animated character, “Oswald The Lucky Rabbit”.

This new project is going to be an animated/live-action hybrid show, which does sound like it could be something similar to the classic film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” or the recent Disney+ Original film, “Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers”.  

Very little is known about this project at the moment, such as who could star in it, or when it might arrive on Disney+. But this sounds like an interesting concept to give Disney+ a new mainstream family show on the same level as Marvel, Star Wars or Percy Jackson.

Jon has been working with Disney on many projects in the last decade including the live-action versions of “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book”, plus the first two Marvel “Iron Man” movies and the Disney+ Original series, “The Mandalorian”. His next big project will be “The Mandalorian and Grogu”, which takes the pair on an adventure on the big screen. Jon has also been an executive producer on a few other Disney+ shows including “The Book Of Boba Fett”, “Skeleton Crew” and “Ahsoka”.

Away from Disney, he’s worked as a director on many popular shows such as “The Office”, “Young Sheldon” and “The Orville”. He’s also behind one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time, “Elf”.

“Oswald The Lucky Rabbit” has been a character that Bob Iger has wanted to incorporate more into Disney since it neogiated the character back from Universal Studios many years ago. This character is a major reason for the creation of the Walt Disney Company, as while Walt Disney co-created Oswald, he didn’t have ownership of the character, which led to him branching out independently to create Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.

Roger’s Take: Disney+ is in desperate need of a breakout series for the whole family, and the combination of Oswald and Jon Faverau could be the secret sauce to making this work. Jon knows how to take popular characters and tell a story that connects to a mainstream audience. There’s also an advantage with Oswald, as the character isn’t at the same level as the “Fab 5” classic Disney characters like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, so it will feel a little fresher for viewers. I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

I’m a huge fan of the classic “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” movie, and delivering something like that to a new generation could be fun. Plus, it means this series won’t just simply be seen as a “kids” cartoon and something for the whole family to enjoy.

What do you think of an “Oswald” series for Disney+? Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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