Technically, Pixar Animation Studios’ first series is the “Inside Out” spin-off, “Dream Production,” but one supposes because it was a short mini-series, that officially title goes to the original series “Win or Lose.”
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Launching on Disney+ February 19, “Win Or Lose features the intertwined stories of eight different characters as they each prepare for their big championship softball game—the insecure kids, their helicopter parents, even a lovesick umpire.
“Win or Lose” features the voices of Will Forte, Rosie Foss, Josh Thomson, Milan Elizabeth Ray, Rosa Salazar, Dorien Watson, Izaac Wang, Chanel Stewart, Lil Rel Howery, Melissa Villaseñor, Jo Firestone, Flula Borg, Kyleigh Curran, Jaylin Fletcher, Erin Keif, Tom Law, Beck Nolan, Orion Tran and Rhea Seehorn. Carrie Hobson, wrote, directed and executive produced the series with Michael Yates. Produced by David Lally, the series includes music by composer Ramin Djawadi and original songs by CAMPFIRE and Djawadi.
“I played softball growing up,” Hobson said “Inspired by that experience, we felt fast-pitch softball was the perfect backdrop for the show. There are so many facets to playing sports that I love—it can bring out the best and worst of a person, the calmest person can lose their temper. And when it comes to winning and losing—the consequences are nothing, and yet, they’re everything. We really felt like it was the best arena for the themes we loved.”
According to Yates, the idea of spotlighting different perspectives was born of everyday life at Pixar. “Carrie and I were officemates on ‘Toy Story 4,’” he said. “We were both story artists on the film, and we would talk about a lot of things going on in the film, as well as things going on in the world—current events, news. We would always have different reactions or different interpretations of the same meeting. One of us would say, ‘That went great!’ and the other would say, ‘No! It was terrible, what are you talking about?’ We realized that our own experiences that we bring to the table change our perception of an event. We wanted to tell a story that illustrated all of that.”
“Win Or Lose” recently ran into some controversy when it decided to ditch a transgender character and storyline from the series, presumably caving to what Disney felt was an incoming backlash and “anti-woke” pressures from the right wing media and the incoming rightwing political administration. But hopefully, the series isn’t too affected negatively otherwise and hopefully Disney just sticks to their guns going forward (unlikely, but hey, we can dream anyhow).
“Win Or Lose” debuts Feb 19 on Disney+. Watch the first official trailer below.
