Pup Academy series, set in Air Bud universe, coming to Disney Channel
Pup Academy is a new Disney Channel series from Air Bud Entertainment.
Air Bud is a legend. (That’s why the character is still winning awards.) The Disney Channel is adding to the Air Bud universe with their new series Pup Academy, which will debut on National Dog Day.
National Dog Day is Monday, August 26, and the premiere episode of the series will air at 2 p.m. Eastern/Pacific before it switches to its regularly scheduled timeslot of 2 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on Wednesday afternoons, starting September 4.
In international markets, it will be released as a Netflix Original series.
Pup Academy is produced by Air Bud Entertainment, and stars Christian Convery as the main human star, playing Morgan Edwards. Convery played Squeaky in the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants 3 and has also appeared in the Hallmark Channel movie My Christmas Dream, several episodes FX’s X-Men TV series Legion , and Venom.
The first season is scheduled for 22 episodes and follows a trio of puppies named Spark, Corazon and Whiz. Spark is a Boxer, Corazon is probably a Golden Retriever, while Whiz looks to be a Poodle mix.
“The puppies attend the Academy in order to learn how to be man’s best friend, but the new students quickly discover a mysterious threat to not only the the academy, but to the very core of the bond between humans and dogs everywhere,” a press release synopsis teases.
According to the ABE website, Spark is a stray from the streets, and she’s a bit of a loner. Whiz is clever but frightened of everything, and Corazon is a party-loving pup who has trouble focusing.
Pup Academy also stars Canadian actor Don Lake (Zootopia) as Charlie, Morgan’s grandpa and the school’s handyman. Aria Birch also stars as Izzy.
The show is created by Anna McRoberts and directed by ABE founder Robert Vince. McRoberts and Vince will co-executive produce the series.
The franchise started with the five original movies starring Kevin Zegers, spanning from 1997 to 2003: Air Bud, Air Bud: Golden Receiver, Air Bud: World Pup, Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch, and Air Bud Spikes Back.
The franchise continued from 2006 to 2013 with the direct-to-DVD Air Buddies series, starring a litter of Buddy and Molly’s puppies B-Dawg, Buddha, Budderball, Mudbud and Rosebud, who can talk: Air Buddies, Snow Buddies, Space Buddies, Santa Buddies, Spooky Buddies, Treasure Buddies and Super Buddies.
Santa Buddies forms a trilogy of its own with the prequels The Search for Santa Paws and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.
Finally, there are the Netflix Original quartet of spinoff movies from 2016 to 2018: Pup Star, Pup Star: Better 2Gether, Pup Star: World Tour and Puppy Star Christmas. These follow a Yorkie named Tiny as she competes in an American Idol style competition. Tiny was introduced as a pound inmate in Santa Buddies.
Air Bud Entertainment also was behind MVP: Most Valuable Primate, which also starred Zegers and featured an ape named Jack playing hockey, and its sequels MVP 2: Most Vertical Primate and MXP: Most Xtreme Primate, where Jack learns skateboarding and snowboarding, respectively.
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This is just one of many National Dog Day events happening; will you be watching the premiere of Pup Academy?