‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Star Josh Duhamel Says Joining Series Was ‘Intimidating’ (Exclusive)

Season 2 of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers premieres on Disney+ on Sept. 28, with a well-known actor joining the cast. Josh Duhamel plays Colin Cole on The Mighty Ducks and takes the place of Emilio Estevez who left the show after the first season. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Duhamel explained how his character is different from Estevez’s Gordon Bombay. 

“It was a little bit intimidating, to be honest, first coming in, knowing what they did the first season and how successful it was,” Duhamel exclusively told PopCulture. “Emilio has done such a great job in all the other iterations of the show. So it was like a bit of a task to come in and sort of find my way. But it was a character that was very different, and he runs this intense hockey institute where the best of the best come and try to get better and go to the next level. And that’s what he’s all about is performance, excellence, achievement, all these things that are great, but there are other aspects of life that he falls a little bit short on.”

Duhamel’s character is a former NHL player who runs an elite hockey institute in California. The Mighty Ducks are invited to the institute for the summer, where Colin tests them like they have never been tested before. But as the season progresses we learned that Colin has challenges he needs to overcome. 

For Duhamel, being part of The Mighty Ducks was enjoyable, having played hockey when he was younger. “I grew up in North Dakota, which is right next door to Minnesota, which is where the Mighty Ducks are from,” he said. “And I played hockey. I mean, I played hockey up until seventh grade, and then I got too tall and skinny and had to pick basketball instead, but I loved it.

“I loved hockey, and I’d sort of fallen out of love with it over the last several years, just because I wasn’t that close to it. But having been a part of this show and having to learn how to play hockey again and skate and get on the ice and handle the puck and all that, I truly fell back in love with the game. And I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did again. I thought the whole hockey thing had passed me by, but it’s been an amazing little ride.”