The original voice told Collider that Disney’s revival is moving ahead without him.
Jim Cummings has been Darkwing Duck since 1991. He will not be Darkwing Duck in the revival.
Cummings told Collider‘s Aidan Kelley on the red carpet for Coyote vs. Acme that Disney is moving forward with its long-developed Darkwing Duck series and that someone else will play the title character.
He also recorded a pilot for the project several years ago.
What Jim Cummings said about the Darkwing Duck reboot
His comments were an update rather than a complaint.
He confirmed the revival is still active and that he recorded material for it previously. His remarks also indicated that Launchpad McQuack could receive a new voice actor rather than Terry McGovern returning.
Disney has released no production details and announced no voice cast.
Whether other original performers return is unknown. Nobody has said who will deliver the character’s famous line.
The DuckTales episode that wrote this exact story
Here is the part that reads like fiction, because it was.
In the 2017 DuckTales reboot, Darkwing Duck existed as a television show the characters watched. Cummings voiced Jim Starling, the actor who had played Darkwing in that fictional program.
Starling’s arc: a proposed movie adaptation recasts him with a younger actor named Drake Mallard, voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos. Starling loses his mind over it, tries to kill his replacement, and becomes Negaduck.
Mallard goes on to become the real Darkwing.
Nine years later, Disney is recasting Cummings in a Darkwing Duck reboot. The show he was in wrote the premise before it happened to him.
Jim Cummings was also passed over for Disney Legends this month
The recasting lands weeks after a separate disappointment.
The 2026 Disney Legends class was inducted at D23 earlier this month, hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Cummings was not among them, again.
A fan launched a petition in April after the class was announced without him. He spoke publicly about the omission shortly before D23.
His Disney credits run to hundreds of characters: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck, Pete, Ray the firefly in The Princess and the Frog, Hondo Ohnaka, and Ed the hyena in The Lion King.
He also filled in for Jeremy Irons near the end of “Be Prepared” when Irons lost his voice during recording. That is Cummings you hear finishing one of Disney’s most famous villain songs.
Where the Darkwing Duck revival actually stands
The project has been in development for six years, and its history is genuinely confusing.
It was announced in 2020 as a spinoff of the DuckTales reboot, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg through Point Grey Pictures, under then-Disney Branded Television head Gary Marsh.
In 2022, a Disney television employee said the series had been cancelled.
In March 2026, Cummings told ScreenRant at the Saturn Awards that it was alive. “Oh, well, it was great. I think it’s long overdue,” he said. “And we’re all still alive and kicking. I guess Seth Rogen, my old buddy, he’s going to be one of the prime movers, shakers. So stay tuned.”
Asked whether the tone had changed, he said only one offshoot had been recorded, and noted that Gosalyn has grown up.
What Darkwing Duck was
The original ran in syndication starting in 1991, lasting three seasons and 91 episodes.
Cummings played Drake Mallard, a St. Canard citizen who fights crime at night as a costumed vigilante, built as a loose parody of pulp hero The Shadow. No powers, just gadgets, ego, and a sidekick.
Launchpad McQuack, carried over from the earlier DuckTales, served as pilot and partner.
What happens next
Disney has not announced a release window, a cast, or a platform beyond the previously reported Disney+ association.
Recasting a character an actor has held for thirty-five years is a normal industry decision, and it is also a hard one to read about if you grew up with the show.
Cummings, for his part, has spent months publicly rooting for the revival to happen. He called the character near and dear to his heart and said he was honored it was coming back.
He said stay tuned. He just will not be the one saying “let’s get dangerous.”
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Collider (August 28, 2026), Aidan Kelley’s red-carpet interview confirming the recast and the previously recorded pilot
The Main Street Mouse (August 28, 2026), the Launchpad recasting implication and the note that Disney has released no details
WDW News Today (August 2026), Cummings speaking about the Disney Legends omission and his full credit list
ScreenRant (March 2026), Ash Crossan’s Saturn Awards interview and Cummings’ quotes on the revival’s status