Anthony Daniels Returns as C-3PO for Disney+’s Animated Star Wars Super Bowl LXI Broadcast

The one confirmed answer for Star Wars fans is Anthony Daniels. Disney, ESPN, Lucasfilm, and the NFL have set a live animated Star Wars version of Super Bowl LXI for February 14, 2027, with Daniels returning as C-3PO. Star Wars Funday Football will stream on Disney+ and the ESPN App and also air on Disney Channel and Disney XD.

As noted in the clip below, this is not a separate game or a recap. The alternate presentation will rebuild every play of the Super Bowl in real time inside the Star Wars galaxy, turning the players on the field into animated avatars. Star Wars characters will appear during key moments, and Disney says Easter eggs will be scattered throughout the telecast.

Daniels is the only performer confirmed for the game so far, but for longtime fans he is a major one. The actor, part of the original 1977 Star Wars cast, will voice C-3PO. Disney says more details on the visual setting, commentators, and additional characters will be shared closer to Super Bowl LXI.

The technology behind the broadcast comes from Sony's Beyond Sports, with NFL Next Gen Stats player tracking data and Sony's Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking used to convert the live action into animation as it happens. That makes Star Wars Funday Football the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl and the fourth animated NFL telecast from ESPN, Disney, and the NFL, after earlier Funday Football editions tied to Toy Story, The Simpsons, and Monsters, Inc.

In the United States, the animated feed will be available live on Disney+ and the ESPN App, alongside the traditional telecast from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. ESPN's main broadcast will air on ESPN, ABC, and Disney+, with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, and Laura Rutledge on that coverage.

The Star Wars version is also scheduled to stream live in Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, Canada through TSN+, the Netherlands, sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Disney+ will make it available on demand shortly after the live telecast in those markets and in additional territories including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and South Korea, part of a rollout covering more than 155 markets worldwide.

The crossover starts before the Super Bowl. Beginning October 20, SC+ on Disney+ adds Star Wars Hyperspace Highlights using Monday Night Football plays with a Star Wars visual theme. Starting October 26, the show will also feature an animated Darth Vader interviewing an NFL player from that night's Monday Night Football game.