#Game Changers Season 2 Over Vaccine Requirement

Deadline reports that Disney Television Studios’ ABC Signature, which produces the series, decided not to renew Estevez’s contract for the second season after weeks of back and forth with his team over the series’ COVID-19 vaccination requirement. Representatives for both the studio and Estevez declined comment, so the exact details should be taken with a grain of salt. Deadline also notes that sources close to Estevez indicate that the issue was creative differences, not a disagreement about vaccinations. 

Many studios are adopting mandatory vaccination policies for cast and crew that work closely with one another, often unmasked, as they appear together on camera. “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” had a policy where vaccines were required for all cast and crew in Zone A, which includes all actors and those who come in direct contact with them. (The vaccination requirements are part of an option in the most recent Return-to-Work agreement between the studios and major unions like IATSE.) According to Deadline’s sources, Estevez did not assure the studio that he would comply and get vaccinated. 

Scripts for the second season are in the works, so the studio had to make a decision before a planned production start in early 2022. With time against them and both sides unwilling to budge, the studio made the call to axe Estevez from the next season.