What Happened To Emilio Estevez After The Mighty Ducks?

Actor and director Emilio Estevez is known not only because of his famous family but also for his role as hockey coach Gordan Bombay in Disney's "The Mighty Ducks" trilogy. The movies follow a youth hockey team's rise to greatness, all thanks to Bombay. Though not his first role by any means, it is one of his most popular roles and something an entire generation recognizes him for.

Estevez's career continued after "The Mighty Ducks," and the actor diversified by writing, producing, and directing movies. His on-screen presence may not be the same as it was at the start of his career, and in recent decades, Estevez has mostly just appeared in projects he directs himself, but that's because he's showing off his talent behind the camera and creating stories he's passionate about.

If you've wondered what the actor has been up to since he put his days playing a hockey coach behind him, look no further. From working with his family — his father is "The West Wing" star Martin Sheen and his brother is "Two and a Half Men" actor Charlie Sheen — to revisiting different projects through the years, here is what Emilio Estevez has been up to since his breakout role in "The Mighty Ducks."

Emilio Estevez has quite a film career. In his early days doing Brat Pack hits in the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in some television films, such as "Nightbreaker" on TNT and "In the Custody of Strangers" on ABC. He continued doing TV movies into the late '90s, even after "The Mighty Ducks," allowing his fans to enjoy his work from the comfort of their homes as part of their regularly scheduled programming blocks.

The "Young Guns" star continued in his Western roots, playing the lead in "Dollar for the Dead" on TNT in 1998. The following year he appeared as the lead character, Dan, a lawyer enjoying a night out, in "Late Last Night." He also appeared in "Rated X," a Showtime original film about the pornography industry, opposite his brother Charlie Sheen. Estevez directed the film as well.

Though he had been appearing in television movies in the late '90s, Estevez also had his fair share of big-screen films. In 2000, he appeared in the black comedy crime film "Sand" with Norman Reedus and starred as Laurence Powell in the 2005 movie "The L.A. Riot Spectacular." The actor's voice is even heard in the English dubs of "The 3 Wise Men" and "Arthur and the Invisibles."

Emilio Estevez began to turn his attention to writing and directing projects in the early 2000s. He had intermittently directed throughout his career, from his first directed feature, "Wisdom," in 1986 and 1996's "The War at Home," but the 2000s saw Estevez push himself from actor to director and writer. He directed episodes for several popular crime TV series, like "CSI: NY," "Cold Case," "Criminal Minds," and "Numb3rs." He continued to work with CBS specifically, directing episodes of "The Guardian" and appearing in an episode of "Two and a Half Men," which Charlie Sheen starred in. Many of his directorial projects, like "Rated X" and "The War at Home," star his family members.

In addition to television, he worked behind the camera on films, moving from comedy thrillers like "Men at Work" to more dramatic projects. He directed the 2005 documentary "Culture Clash in AmeriCCa," a little-seen feature with a variety of skits about immigrants.

Emilio Estevez's 2006 film "Bobby" was his biggest directorial project to date, following the shooting and death of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The movie focuses on the hours leading up to Kennedy's death after giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel and involves a variety of characters. Estevez has a major role, and his father has a supporting role in the film as well. "Bobby" has a 47% from critics and a 72% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the mixed reviews from critics, the movie did well on the festival circuit and with industry professionals. At the Hollywood Film Festival Award in 2006, "Bobby" won awards for Lindsay Lohan's performance and its ensemble. The cast boasts a number of recognizable names beyond just Estevez and his dad, including Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Ashton Kutcher, William H. Macy, Laurence Fishburne, and his old "St. Elmo's Fire" co-star Demi Moore. The movie received Golden Globe nominations for best motion picture in the drama category and best original song, and it scored a Screen Actors Guild nomination for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.

"Bobby" screened at the Venice Film Festival, earning Estevez an important award for his career: The movie was nominated for the Golden Lion, the award for best film, but the director won the Biografilm award. The award also marked Estevez's first, and so far only, major accolade as a director.

After "Bobby," Emilio Estevez's next film as a writer and director was "The Way." A self-described passion project, the movie follows Tom (Martin Sheen), a father coming to terms with the death of his son Daniel (Estevez). Daniel was doing the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage through France and Spain, when he died, and Tom decides to complete the journey himself to work through his grief and in memory of his son.

"The Way" was well-received by critics and audiences alike, with both camps awarding the movie an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. Compliments include the use of the mountain scenery, with Bruce DeMara writing for the Toronto Star that the director "takes full advantage of the beautiful mountain scenery, dramatic skies and ancient architecture to give us moments of quiet wonder.

In the years since its release in 2010, the director has opened up about what making "The Way" meant to him. "Between wanting to reconnect with my Spanish roots and wanting to honor my grandfather and my son, this film was really born out of that," Estevez shared with UPI in 2023. The movie is dedicated to his grandfather, Francisco Estevez, and marks one of the first times Martin Sheen was credited by his birth name, Ramon Gerard Estevez. Estevez and Sheen also published a dual memoir with help from Hope Edelman, "Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son," in 2012, describing their time in Spain and their lives over the years.

In addition to acting with his family members, Emilio Estevez also prioritized them in their times of need. In 2015, two major events rocked the director's life. The first came in November 2015, when his brother, Charlie Sheen, announced his HIV-positive status on the "TODAY Show." He opened up about his diagnosis because people in his "inner circle," he said, were extorting him to keep his status a secret. In addition to announcing his HIV diagnosis, Sheen said he was embarking on a path to sobriety, which his family supports. "The family's enormously proud of him," Estevez commented in an interview with Access Hollywood in 2019.

The following month, Estevez announced in a Facebook post that his father had a quadruple bypass. He noted it was not an "emergency situation" and that the patriarch was surrounded by family. At the time, the actor stated his father would be home for the holidays and would make a full recovery before going back to film the next season of his Netflix series "Grace and Frankie" in the new year.

Like many actors, Emilio Estevez became an entrepreneur. He started a winery, Casa Dumetz Wines, based out of Malibu, California. Planting the first vines was what he and then-partner Sonja Magdevski did on their first date, the actor shared with The Hollywood Reporter. The actor planted pinot noir vines across a half-acre on his property in 2004, which later turned into a wine label. It wasn't an intentional decision, but it turned from a simple fun pastime to a legitimate business.

"I was in the middle of production on a hilltop in Logrono [for 'The Way'], and I told Sonja, 'You need to make the harvest call,'" Estevez said. Magdevski continues to be the front-facing party for Casa Dumetz Wines, with the company's website detailing her goal "to create vibrant, balanced and pleasurable wines."

Estevez sold his Malibu property, which was also home to the vineyard, in 2016 for $6.35 million. This hasn't stopped the production of wine, as Casa Dumetz still offers wine tastings and boasts a pinot noir, Roussanne, Chardonnay, and more. The company also supports a variety of organizations, from the NAACP to local organizations in Santa Maria, California, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

With the rise of Disney's streaming platform came the return of favorite nostalgic franchises. This included the return of "Mighty Ducks" with the two-season series "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers." Emilio Estevez returned as Gordon Bombay. Instead of coaching hockey, Gordan owns an ice rink that has seen better days. The series also boasts "Gilmore Girls" alumni Lauren Graham and Josh Duhamel, who enters in Season 2.

"Game Changers" follows Evan (Brady Noon), a player cut from the Mighty Ducks who forms his own team. He receives help from Gordan and brings together a group of underdog players to be formidable opponents against the Ducks. The Ducks' coach, Coach T (Dylan Playfair), tries to entice Evan to rejoin the team while simultaneously disparaging the team Evan formed.

Estevez only appeared in the first season. In a statement to Deadline, the actor said he didn't return for the second season due to "a good old fashioned contract dispute" and "a myriad of creative differences." Initial reports stated it was due to a disagreement over policies the network implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Estevez denies this claim, saying that "any other narrative is false." He also described the precautions he took when filming, such as driving to and from Vancouver to film the pilot rather than go through crowded airports. As of May 26, 2023, "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers" was removed from Disney+ as a cost-saving measure.

Before appearing in "The Mighty Ducks" movies, Emilio Estevez portrayed Billy the Kid in "Young Guns" and "Young Guns II." He appeared alongside his brother Charlie Sheen as well as Keifer Sutherland and Dermot Mulroney. The movie did well enough at the box office to spawn a sequel despite the mixed reviews from critics.

The original movies came out in 1988 and 1990, respectively, but that hasn't stopped the cast from trying to turn the franchise into a trilogy. In an interview with Collider in 2021, Estevez confirmed a third installment is "definitely in the works." He continued, saying, "The Kid is a fun character to play. There's a lot of speculation about what happened that night, in 1881 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Did he die? Did he not? And so, there's a lot of mythical, historical and actually some factual things that we can examine, if we're serious about going back to that franchise, as well."

Estevez isn't the only member of the original cast who's commented on the chance of a third movie. "It's in limbo right now," said Lou Diamond Phillips, who played Jose Chavez y Chavez, in 2023 with Entertainment Weekly. "It's not dead, but it's not happening right now." The actor also shared that the plan is for Estevez to write and direct the film, noting that he has read a "wonderful" script.

Emilio Estevez is one of the "Brat Pack," a wave of young actors who appeared in films like "Young Guns," "St. Elmo's Fire," "Pretty in Pink," and "The Breakfast Club." The term was coined by David Blum in 1985, and Blum considers Estevez "the unofficial president" of the pack.

Andrew McCarthy, a fellow member of the Brat Pack known for his work in "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Pretty in Pink," is the mind behind "Brats," a documentary about the infamous pack. The intention is to look at where the Brat Pack is today and how the label transformed their careers. Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson declined to participate, but Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and Estevez are appearing in the documentary.

"I hadn't seen Rob in 30 years. I hadn't seen Emilio since the premiere of 'St. Elmo's Fire,'" McCarthy commented in a Television Critics Association press tour in 2024. "I was surprised how much affection we all have for each other." Getting back together to work on "Brats," McCarthy said, helped him realize he needed and wanted to stay in contact with these individuals and shouldn't have waited so long.

Over a decade after its initial release, "The Way" returned to theaters in 2023. As a recap, the film follows Tom (Martin Sheen) as he walks a pilgrimage in Spain after the passing of his son (Emilio Estevez). The original distributor of the movie had gone bankrupt, leaving the rights to the film in a courtroom in Delaware. "I got a call from a small independent distribution company, said, 'Hey, your movie's sitting in this courtroom. Do you need help rescuing it?'" Estevez said in an interview with Salon. "I said, 'Sure.' So I set about trying to get the rights back to it." The director was successful, ensuring he had control over what happened to "The Way" next.

Fathom Events re-released the movie in over 800 theaters on May 16, 2023. The showing included added footage of an interview, with a talk between Estevez, Sheen, and Rick Stevens, a travel writer, to create "a great dialogue about faith and about family, about pilgrimage and Rick's mission."

"This has grown from a passion project into something else," Estevez shared with Deadline. That "something else" is a continuation of Tom's story. Estevez shared with Salon that in the next chapter of the story, which he was researching at the time of the first film's re-release, Tom works with Doctors Without Borders. He's sent on a new adventure after a supply drop in Nigeria presents a book with some "absolutely horrifying revelations," causing Tom to leave to find the author behind it. 

Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen continue to make public appearances together, talking about their projects and sharing their creative processes. With the re-release of "The Way," the father-son duo gave a variety of interviews discussing the movie's impact and giving an inside look into their lives over the years.

On "The Jennifer Hudson Show," Martin Sheen shared that it was important for him to be near his family while working. "I would try to make sure that we could stay together if the location was distant and it was a long time," Sheen shared with Hudson. Estevez added, "My folks believe that for the family to actually stay together we had to actually stay together." They told Hudson that Sheen worked out in his contract that his family would travel with him wherever his work took him, including far-flung locales like Mexico and Rome.

The pair also give talks at festivals, appearing at the Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival in 2023. Estevez moved to the Cincinnati area and supports filming movies in the state. The two were a part of "an intimate discussion about film, family, life, and their strong Ohio ties," according to the local news station WKRC. Estevez filmed his most recent directorial project, "The Public," in Cincinnati.