At Long Last, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Gets His Disney Spotlight

Before there was Mickey, there was a lucky rabbit.

For nearly a century, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has held a unique place within the history of Disney. Yet despite being one of the characters who helped lay the groundwork for everything that would eventually follow, Oswald has rarely been given the chance to truly stand at the center of his own modern story.

At long last, that is about to change.

Disney has offered the first look at “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,” a new three-part Disney+ miniseries from Jon Favreau that will bring the classic character into the modern era when it arrives in February 2027.

And rather than simply recreating the animated shorts that first introduced Oswald to audiences, Disney is doing something a little more ambitious.

The upcoming series will blend live-action with hand-drawn 2D animation, allowing one of Disney’s oldest animated characters to interact with a new world while retaining the visual roots that made him such an important part of animation history.

Favreau is writing, directing and executive producing the project, with a cast that includes Amy Sedaris, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Martin, Al Madrigal, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Mykal-Michelle Harris and Ryder Allen.

But it is Oswald himself who makes this project particularly special.

Created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1927, Oswald actually predates Mickey Mouse. After control of the character was lost to Universal in 1928, Disney and Iwerks went on to create another little character you may have heard of — Mickey.

That history has made Oswald something of a legendary figure among longtime Disney fans.

Disney eventually reacquired the rights to Oswald in 2006, opening the door for the rabbit to slowly begin hopping his way back into the company’s larger universe. One of his biggest modern appearances came through 2010’s Epic Mickey, which finally allowed Oswald and Mickey to share a major story together.

But even then, Oswald’s appearances have remained relatively limited.

Which makes this new series feel long overdue.

Over the last several years, Disney has increasingly looked deeper into its massive library of characters and stories for new projects. Yet there is something different about taking a character who is so closely connected to the company’s earliest days and giving him an opportunity to lead a story nearly 100 years after his creation.

It also leaves us wondering just how deeply the new series might lean into that history.

Will this simply be a new adventure starring Oswald? Or could the combination of live-action and traditional animation allow Disney to explore his place within nearly a century of animation in ways we haven’t seen before?

There is certainly a lot of history to play with.

And perhaps more importantly, there is now an entire generation of kids who may know Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and the rest of Disney’s classic characters without knowing the lucky rabbit who came right before them.

Come February, they are finally going to get that introduction.

After spending decades sitting just outside the spotlight, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is finally getting the chance to take center stage.