Disney’s prodigal animated son, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, stars in a brand-new short

In celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary, the studio released a brand-new animated short — featuring one of Disney’s oldest and often forgotten characters, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

If you’ve heard of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, it might be because the character was featured in 2010’s Epic Mickey. The spunky rabbit was created in 1927 by Walt Disney, and designed by both Disney and animator Ub Iwerks. Oswald went on to star in 27 successful shorts for Disney, before the character was sold off to Universal. To replace Oswald, Disney created Mickey Mouse.

Oswald returned to Disney’s ownership in 2006, and while the character appeared in games, merchandise, and around the parks, this is his first appearance in an animated short since then.

“Oswald is such a plucky scamp. We wanted to bring Oswald back, and in the short, he literally returns to his original home, the movie screen,” says director Eric Goldberg. “We wanted to have Oswald do all of the ‘squash-and-stretch,’ ‘rubber hose’-animation style, celebrating that first generation of Walt Disney’s artists.”

The short is currently available on YouTube.