Disney Brings Back Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for the First Time in Nearly 95 Years

Disney is celebrating 100 Years of Wonder with the return of the beloved Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The character that was replaced by the iconic Mickey Mouse is featured in a new hand-drawn short from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and it’s the first time Oswald has appeared in new animation in close to 95 years. The year-long Disney 100 Years of Wonder celebration has recruited the likes of Disney Parks and Marvel variant covers featuring Mickey, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and more. Of course, you can’t have a Disney100 celebration without Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which makes his return all the more fitting.

“Walt Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is back!For the first time in nearly 95 years, Oswald stars in an all-new hand-drawn short from Walt Disney Animation Studios in celebration of Disney 100 Years of Wonder! #Disney100,” a tweet from the Disney Animation Twitter account reads. The short video has the old-time piano jingle and shows Oswald going to a movie theater to watch himself, the star attraction. He tries to jump into the screen to plant a kiss on Ortensia, to no avail. Oswald then takes his ears off and uses them as scissors to cut a hole in the screen, and the video ends with Oswald and Ortensia kissing.

Walt Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is back! 🐰 For the first time in nearly 95 years, Oswald stars in an all-new hand-drawn short from Walt Disney Animation Studios in celebration of Disney 100 Years of Wonder! #Disney100 pic.twitter.com/A7fwaurZqG

— Disney Animation (@DisneyAnimation) December 1, 2022

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Origin Story

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was one of the creations of Walt Disney back in 1927. Interestingly enough, Disney’s chief animator Ub Iwerks was tasked with creating Oswald with the sole purpose of selling him to Universal Pictures. Oswald would headline his own series of animated shorts between 1927 and 1938.

As mentioned earlier, the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit led to Disney creating Mickey Mouse, who became the company’s trademark figure to this day. Disney+ was even working on an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit streaming series, though that died in late 2021. Long-time animation filmmaker Matt Danner revealed his team was well into development before the Mouse put the kibosh on the operation.

“[Then Disney CEO Bob] Iger was very serious about it,” Danner tweeted. “The Legend of the Three Caballeros team was going to follow up with an Oswald show for streaming. Scripts written, designs done, animation test in hand, and a pilot in production. It was beautiful! Then we got broken up and scattered to the wind.”

“Don’t be sad about this,” Danner added. “Oswald has A LOT of love within Disney. I just wanted to share how serious that love is. I’m sure there will be an Oswald project coming your way in the near future.”