ESPN is bringing the Force to the Super Bowl. The sports network, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL will team up for Star Wars Funday Football, a real-time animated alternate presentation of Super Bowl LXI set in the Star Wars universe, streaming Feb. 14, 2027, on Disney+ and the ESPN App and airing on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
The presentation will re-create every play of the game, turning players into animated avatars and bringing characters from across the Lucasfilm franchise into key moments. Anthony Daniels, who has played C-3PO since the original 1977 Star Wars, will return to voice the protocol droid for the broadcast. ESPN has yet to announce the full roster of characters, the animated setting or the commentators for the alternate telecast.
The special will run alongside ESPN’s traditional Super Bowl broadcast, which will feature Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The game will air on ESPN and ABC and stream on Disney+. The animated version will be available live in international markets as well, with on-demand access on Disney+ shortly after the game bringing its reach to more than 155 markets worldwide, according to ESPN.
The crossover marks the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl and the latest expansion of ESPN’s Funday Football franchise, which has previously reimagined NFL games in the worlds of Toy Story, The Simpsons and Monsters, Inc.
The inaugural Toy Story Funday Football, which transformed the Atlanta Falcons-Jacksonville Jaguars game in October 2023 into a live animated experience, won three Sports Emmy Awards. The Simpsons Funday Football followed in December 2024, putting characters from the long-running Fox animated series into the Bengals-Cowboys matchup. Last December’s Monsters Funday Football brought Mike Wazowski and Sulley into the Eagles-Chargers game.
The broadcasts use real-time data and animation technology from Sony’s Beyond Sports, combining NFL Next Gen Stats player-tracking information with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking to translate on-field action into a virtual environment. The technology allows the animated presentation to mirror the live game as it unfolds rather than show a pre-produced recreation.
The Star Wars edition also lands during a significant year for Lucasfilm’s flagship franchise. The company will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Wars in 2027, with a newly restored version of the original 1977 film returning to theaters for a limited engagement on Feb. 19, just five days after the Super Bowl.
The animated broadcast is part of ESPN’s broader effort to give viewers more ways to watch its first Super Bowl. In addition to the main telecast, ESPN has announced Super Bowl LXI with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2, Super Bowl LXI Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPNU and Super Bowl LXI Playbook with Next Gen Stats on NFL Network.
Disney is also folding Star Wars into its football coverage in the months leading up to the game. Beginning Oct. 20, ESPN’s daily SportsCenter program on Disney+, SC+, will feature “Hyperspace Highlights,” presenting plays from Monday Night Football with a Star Wars visual treatment. Starting Oct. 26, the show will also feature an animated Darth Vader interviewing an NFL player participating in that night’s game.
For Disney, the project brings two major properties together at a moment when ESPN is preparing for a milestone of its own: Super Bowl LXI will be the first Super Bowl produced by ESPN, and the first to air on ABC since 2006. The Star Wars alternate telecast gives the company a franchise-driven way to extend the event across its sports, streaming and family-entertainment platforms.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
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