Oswald Is Coming to Disney+: Jon Favreau Revives Disney’s Original Lucky Rabbit

Mickey Mouse may want to make a little room in the clubhouse because one of Walt Disney's earliest creations is officially getting his own show. Disney revealed new details about Oswald during the D23 Entertainment Showcase, including a first look at the upcoming Disney+ series and an official premiere date of February 17, 2027.

And after being hidden away since the 1920s, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is about to discover that the world has changed. A lot. Created, written and executive produced by Jon Favreau, Oswald is an all-new live-action and animation hybrid series based on Walt Disney's classic character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Favreau also serves as one of the show's directors alongside Jude Weng and Andrew R. Jones.

Disney unveiled a clip from the series for the D23 audience Friday night, giving fans their first taste of how the nearly century-old character will fit into a modern Disney+ series. The premise finds Oswald literally emerging from the past. According to Disney, an earthquake releases the cartoon rabbit after he has been hidden away since the 1920s. A middle-school boy and his group of friends discover Oswald and attempt to help him adjust to life in the modern world. So, yes, Oswald has some catching up to do. Wait until somebody hands that rabbit an iPhone.

The upcoming series stars Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Ryder Allen and Al Madrigal, with Kathryn Hahn and Albert Brooks also joining the cast. Favreau, Andrew R. Jones, Karen Gilchrist and John Bartnicki serve as executive producers. Favreau's involvement makes the project especially interesting considering his long history of blending live-action filmmaking with animated characters and digital environments. His Disney credits include The Jungle Book and The Lion King, while his work within the larger Disney family also includes creating the Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

This time, however, he's digging into a particularly important piece of Disney history. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit predates Mickey Mouse and was originally created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1927. Walt eventually lost control of the character to Universal, and the experience helped lead to the creation of Mickey Mouse. Decades later, Disney regained the rights to Oswald in 2006, bringing one of the company's earliest characters back home.

Now he's getting the Disney+ spotlight. The live-action and animation hybrid format also feels particularly fitting for a character whose history stretches back to the earliest days of Disney animation. Rather than completely redesigning Oswald as a realistic animal, the concept allows the cartoon rabbit to enter a contemporary live-action world while still carrying the visual identity that made him recognizable nearly 100 years ago.

Disney hasn't released the D23 clip publicly, so viewers outside the Honda Center will have to wait a little longer for their first proper look at footage from the series. Still, Friday night's presentation gives us a much clearer idea of what Favreau has planned and, most importantly, when we'll finally get to see it.

For a character who spent decades largely outside the Disney family, landing his own streaming series is one heck of a homecoming.

Oswald premieres February 17, 2027, exclusively on Disney+.