“I Hope They Get Everything They Deserve”

Disney legend Jim Cummings has addressed being recast for one of the studio’s upcoming reboots.

Cummings has an extensive history with Disney going back almost 40 years, having played characters like Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Mickey Mouse and Goofy antagonist Pete, Fat Cat and Monterey Jack from Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck from the same-named TV series, among many others. However, despite a Darkwing Duck reboot being planned, Cummings will not reprise the main protagonist, a.k.a. Drake Mallard, in the Disney+ project.

The actor revealed this during an interview with Collider, noting that despite having recorded a pilot for the reboot that was well received, the creatives behind this new take on Darkwing Duck have decided to recast both him and Terry McGovern, who voiced Launchpad McQuack, Darkwing’s sidekick and pilot. As Cummings explained:

I did a pilot for it several years ago, to see the viability of it coming back, and everybody went nuts. And they are bringing it back, and they’re hiring somebody else to do Terry McGovern’s role of Launchpad, and they’re hiring somebody else to be Darkwing Duck. I hope they get…everything they deserve. Crazy, I don’t know what to tell you.

The actor’s update follows five months after he informed ScreenRant that he’d recorded “basically one offshoot” of the new Darkwing Duck at that point. It’s unclear if Cummings could still participate in the reboot either as one of his other characters from the original series, such as Fearsome Five leader Negaduck, or as a brand-new character. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are developing the new Darkwing Duck, which was announced in 2020, through their Point Grey Pictures production company.

The original Darkwing Duck ran for 91 episodes from September 1991 to December 1992. Season 1, comprised of 65 episodes, aired as part of the syndicated Disney Afternoon programming block, while seasons 2 and 3, both comprised of 13 episodes each, aired on ABC. Along with the classic ’90s TV show, Cummings reprised the character in the 2022 movie Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, as well as an episode of the TV show Chibiverse in 2025.

Additionally, in the 2017 DuckTales series, Cummings voiced Jim Starling, who played Darkwing Duck as a TV character in this universe. Chris Diamantopoulos voiced Drake Mallard as Starling’s replacement for a Darkwing Duck reboot movie, prompting an insane Starling to try and kill him. Mallard and Starling ultimately became the “real life” Darkwing and Negaduck in the Ducktales reboot. The Darkwing Duck franchise has also been expanded upon in video games and comic books.

Despite being recast in the Darkwing Duck reboot, Cummings maintains his connection to Disney, with his recent credits on that front including voicing Pete in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+, Winnie-the-Pooh and Baloo in the short film Once Upon a Studio, and Hondo Ohnaka in the Disneyland attraction Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run. Cummings can currently be heard reprising Looney Tunes character The Tasmanian Devil in Coyote vs. Acme, which is playing in theaters.