The cast of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers looks a little different in Season 2, with Josh Duhamel joining the Disney+ series as one of its top stars. Emilio Estevez didn’t return for Season 2, and Duhamel was brought in as the new male lead, playing former NHL star and high-octane hockey instructor Coach Cole. The change put a couple of the show’s stars in some unique situations. Duhamel had to join an already established series and cast as a major character, while Lauren Graham needed to get into a rhythm with a new co-star. Both actors were up for the challenge.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Ahead of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Season 2 premiere, which is now on Disney+, ComicBook.com spoke to both Graham and Duhamel about the adjustments necessary to make the new installment a success. For Graham, getting along with Duhamel was an easy task, and his new character created opportunities to explore new sides of Alex.
“It was really fun. And not that last year wasn’t fun, but one of the unique things about this show is it’s sort of like a movie, in that you do have a different premise every year,” Graham said. “And they had always thought of the Bad News Bears model. They’re in training, they’re in Japan, they just start anew even though you have the same team. It was really easy from the beginning, it was really fun. I had sort of known Josh, we have some work people in common, and I just had a feeling we were going to have a great time and we did. And it always brings new energy into a show when you’re figuring out a new dynamic and you have a new conflict to play with. And I just thought his thing of being really serious with sports was a very fun thing to poke fun at for my character.”
For Duhamel, it was all about figuring out how to bring his energy and character into a system and culture that had already been established.
“It’s always a little bit intimidating going into any new situation, especially one that’s already been established,” Duhamel explained. “And Lauren is someone that I’ve admired for so long, so you go in knowing you’ve got to be ready to bring your A-game and that was really what I tried to do. From the beginning, just trust that what I wanted to do was going to work, trust that it was going to be different enough from what they’ve done before and just try to fit in as best I could while also making some waves, because that’s what this guy does.”
You can watch the full interview with Lauren Graham and Josh Duhamel at the top of the page.
