Summary

• After his role in The Mighty Ducks, Emilio Estevez focused on directing and producing, building an impressive off-camera career.
• Estevez starred in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers in 2021, showing that he still has a passion for acting when the right role comes along.
• The actor continues to have projects on both sides of the screen, with his next film appearance planned to be in Guns 3 as writer and director.

Emilio Estevez hasn't been in the Hollywood spotlight for years, leading many to question what happened to him, but while he's stayed out of the limelight, he hasn't been inactive. Estevez, the son of Martin Sheen and older brother of Charlie Sheen, carved a unique path through Hollywood, which includes working off-screen as a producer, writer, and director. Though he hasn't completely stopped taking onscreen roles, Estevez has been highly selective, a natural course for someone who has spent more than 40 active years in the entertainment industry.

Apart from being in the main cast of The Breakfast Club (1985), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), and the Young Guns (1988) series, Emilio Estevez is most famous for his role as Gordon Bombay in The Mighty Ducks trilogy. 25 years after Estevez last played the character in D3: The Mighty Ducks, he reprised the role in the 2021 Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. However, Estevez didn't return for season 2. Today, Emilio Estevez, now in his 60s, continues to work as an actor, writer, and director.

What Happened To Emilio Estevez After The Mighty Ducks?

Emilio Estevez Turned To Behind-The-Scenes Positions

Many wonder what happened to Emilio Estevez because of how tipped he seemed to be for leading roles in the early stages of his career. However, following the conclusion of the movie series The Mighty Ducks in 1996, Emilio Estevez starred in minor roles in television and film but mostly worked behind the scenes as a director in several movies.

Estevez only had a small role in D3: The Mighty Ducks because he was busy doing his passion project, The War at Home (1996). Estevez stars as a Vietnam War veteran struggling to adjust to civilian life while dealing with an overbearing father — played by his real father, Martin Sheen. However, it was his roles off-screen in the directors chair that became his true interest and career focus.

In 2004, Emilio Estevez directed episodes for legal/crime dramas such as The Guardian and Cold Case, and in 2005, he also directed episodes for CSI: NY and Close to Home.

This began in 2000, when Estevez directed Rated X, a biopic in which he and his brother Charlie Sheen star as the Mitchell brothers, who operate a notorious San Francisco strip club. That same year, Estevez appeared as himself in Bon Jovi's music video for the song "Say It Isn't So." Though still in the shadow of The Mighty Ducks' Gordon Bombay, Estevez was mostly successful in reinventing himself on and off-screen.

In 2004, Emilio Estevez directed episodes for legal/crime dramas such as The Guardian and Cold Case, and in 2005, he also directed episodes for CSI: NY and Close to Home. This prepared Estevez to direct the critically acclaimed Bobby (2006), which tells the story of the 22 people whose lives were changed when U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the Ambassador Hotel in LA in 1968. A year later, Estevez ran into the story that inspired him to make The Public, a film that spent 12 years in production.

While Estevez mostly shed his status as an A-list actor, what happened to Emilio Estevez to take him out of the limelight was that he worked on establishing an impressive body of off-camera work. The Public saw the light of day in 2018. This began with Estevez reading about how public librarians have become de facto social workers for people without access to shelter during emergencies, an issue that the movie highlighted. He has been busy directing films, and that's why Estevez was barely in the D3 movie.

Did Emilio Estevez Retire From Acting?

The Mighty Ducks And Breakfast Club Star Still Appears On-Screen Occasionally

What happened to Emilio Estevez doesn't necessarily mean that he's retired from acting altogether. He is simply much more selective about which onscreen roles deserve his full attention. Like any aging Hollywood legend, Estevez is concerned about his legacy. This is also why he is unlikely to do any The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers cameos, especially as Estevez seems intent on not just writing, producing, and directing, but also acting in his films.

Even before the success of The Mighty Ducks, Emilio Estevez had already directed and starred in two films.

This isn't surprising given Estevez's early career. Even before the success of The Mighty Ducks, Emilio Estevez had already directed and starred in two films. This includes Men at Work (1990), which saw Estevez teaming up with his brother Charlie Sheen, in a story about trash collectors who bring down an illegal toxic waste dump. In Wisdom (1986), Estevez stars alongside fellow former Brat Pack member Demi Moore, and the two embark on a cross-country bank-robbing spree to help struggling farmers.

What Emilio Estevez Is Doing Now

Emilio Estevez Continues To Have Projects On Both Sides Of The Screen

For those who wonder what happened to Emilio Estevez starring in movies, his next film appearance was supposed to be in Guns 3: Alias Billy the Kid, and he is most likely tending to various other production duties as the movie's writer and director. Estevez is supposed to be joined by Christian Slater and Lou Diamond Phillips in the cast. Guns 3 faces stiff competition in an era where the classic Western movie genre is being revived through a variety of Neo-Western series and films.

Estevez and the rest of the Brat Pack struggled for years to shake off the negative connotations.

However, it would be an understatement to say that Emilio Estevez has paid his dues and that he has earned the right to take such risks at this point in his career. At the peak of his acting career, fame was a bittersweet experience for Estevez. It's been more than 35 years since New York Magazine released their hit piece about the arrogant off-screen antics of certain young Hollywood actors— now infamously known as the Brat Pack. Estevez and the rest of the Brat Pack struggled for years to shake off the negative connotations.

As for Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen's relationship, it's unclear whether the brothers remain in touch. In 2008, around the time when Charlie Sheen appeared in Big Bang Theory, the Two and a Half Men star was already on a downward spiral, while Emilio Estevez was already busy producing The Public. During a 2011 interview via ABC News, Estevez revealed that he had doubts about being able to help his brother, explaining that all he can do is to try to be a positive example.

"I was a pretty poor one. As a kid, I was smart enough to be surreptitious about all my misbehavior, or at least stealthy. But it means that my opinions carry little weight with Charlie."