Add C-3PO to the list of popular Disney personalities who will guide football fans through various telecasts of ESPN’s coverage of Super Bowl LXI in 2027.
The golden droid, a mainstay of Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars” films, will play an important role in a real-time animated broadcast of the Big Game set in the “universe” of the film franchise and airing on Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney XD and the ESPN app on Sunday, February 14. Actor Anthony Daniels, who originally played the character, will appear in the show. Meanwhile, five more Super Bowl 2027 productions are planned for ESPN, ABC, ESPN2 and ESPNU, among other Disney media properties.
The animated TV show, called “Star Wars Funday Football,” will recreate each game of Super Bowl LXI as it happens, but will transform the players on the field into animated avatars. Characters from “Star Wars” will appear at key moments and surprise nods to the films will appear throughout the game. Disney is able to turn the live game into animation by combining player tracking data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking.
The company said it plans to reveal more details, such as visual settings, commentators and characters, in the coming weeks.
Disney continues to expand viewing options for its broadcast of Super Bowl LXI, the first gridiron classic the company has had under its care in roughly two decades. Earlier this month, Disney tapped outspoken host Pat McAfee to anchor “Field Pass,” a commentary-based option, which will air alongside a traditional broadcast of the Big Game on ABC and ESPN, and a Super Bowl version of the popular “ManningCast” featuring Peyton and Eli Manning, on ESPN2. The company will offer a statistics-driven Super Bowl television show, “Playbook,” to be led by a team to be announced later and broadcast on NFL Network, as well as a Spanish-language television broadcast on ESPN Deportes.
The company has been considering “mega casting” for the Super Bowl since 2021, when Disney struck a new rights deal with the NFL that will keep “Monday Night Football” on the air on ESPN until 2033. Since then, the league and the company have grown even closer, with the league taking a 10% stake in ESPN in a deal that puts NFL Network and NFL RedZone under the ESPN umbrella.
Other companies have tried to interest smaller viewers in the biggest annual event the medium has to offer. The media conglomerate formerly known as Paramount aired a kids’ version of the Super Bowl on Nickelodeon in 2024. Disney, meanwhile, has, at different times over the years, tapped animated characters ranging from the “Toy Story” crew to “Big City Green” characters to Marvel superheroes to create bespoke NFL, NHL and NBA games for little ones.
Five days after the company released its growing lineup of Super Bowl TV shows, Lucasfilm will celebrate 50 years of the “Star Wars” franchise by releasing a restored version of the original 1977 film into theaters, beginning Friday, Feb. 19.
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