Star Wars Gets Its Own Animated Super Bowl LXI Broadcast on Disney+

Super Bowl LXI is heading to a galaxy far, far away on February 14, 2027. ESPN, Lucasfilm and the NFL announced on Monday night, October 19, that the game will get Star Wars Funday Football. It's a real-time animated alternate broadcast set in the Star Wars galaxy (Disney+ Press). Anthony Daniels, who has played C-3PO since the original 1977 film, is returning to voice the droid.

The game takes place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The Star Wars version will stream live on Disney+ and the ESPN App. It will also air on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Outside the US, it will be available live or on demand on Disney+ in more than 155 markets. The regular broadcast airs on ESPN, ABC and Disney+ with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, so this is the alternate option for anyone who'd rather watch with C-3PO (Forbes).

Every real play gets recreated in animation, with the players shown as animated avatars. Star Wars characters step in at key moments. The tech comes from Sony's Beyond Sports, which combines NFL Next Gen Stats with Hawk-Eye optical tracking to turn live data into the animated game. Disney says the broadcast will be packed with Easter eggs. The settings, commentators and full character lineup haven't been announced yet.

It's the first animated alternate broadcast of a Super Bowl and the fourth Funday Football overall. The series started with Toy Story in 2023, which won three Sports Emmys, followed by The Simpsons in 2024 and Monsters in 2025.

The announcement teaser has C-3PO and R2-D2 crash-landing at the Super Bowl, with new dialogue from Daniels (StarWars.com).

What else is coming for Star Wars and the NFL?

The tie-ins begin immediately. From October 20, SC+, ESPN's daily SportsCenter show on Disney+, will run Star Wars "Hyperspace Highlights" with plays from Monday Night Football. Starting October 26, it will also air an animated Darth Vader interviewing a player from that night's game every Monday (good luck giving Vader a boring postgame answer).

The broadcast also lines up with Star Wars' 50th anniversary. A restored version of the original 1977 Star Wars returns to theaters on Friday, February 19, 2027, five days after the big game.

My vote for the broadcast goes to the chaos picks. A Wookiee at defensive tackle makes far too much sense, and any field goal that turns into a Jedi mind trick would be worth the Disney+ subscription on its own. Lucasfilm hasn't said who's involved beyond C-3PO, so this is pure fan wish-listing for now. We'd love to hear yours in the comments.

More Star Wars news is right here.

Header image is official Star Wars Funday Football art from Lucasfilm and ESPN, via StarWars.com. Photo of Anthony Daniels by Steven Miller via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0.