Tony Anselmo reprises his role of Donald Duck from DuckTales (1987); while it was a minor role in that show (he left the nephews with Scrooge when joining the navy, appearing in only a few episodes), it's a bigger role in this show.
According to Matt Youngberg, Huey, Dewey, and Louie have more developed characteristics in this show, whereas in previous shows they were indistinguishable from each other. "Everyone always says Huey, Dewey, and Louie in that exact order, so we decided to make that the birth order, and by defining that we were able to assign traits that fit. Huey's the oldest, a little more responsible, a little bit brainy. Dewey wants to stand out, and wants to break out of being labeled as just one of a set of three. And Louie is happy being the youngest child - he can slip under the radar. Huey has Scrooge's brains, Dewey has Scrooge's guts, and Louie has Scrooge's love of treasure."
The producers cite the Indiana Jones films and the family comedy Arrested Development (2003) as an influence on the show.
This is the feature debut of Della Duck, Donald Duck's sister and the mother of Hewey, Dewey and Louie who is voiced by Paget Brewster. She briefly appears in the comics.
In the opening credits, when the Duck family pulls apart the mummy, a hieroglyph of Darkwing Duck can be seen on the wall.
Flintheart Glomgold's characterization in this show is being a cheap knock-off of Scrooge McDuck: "When Glomgold saw that Scrooge was a Scottish billionaire, he decided to be more Scottish and even richer. He's an '80s billionaire who made all his money from branding and getting his face on every storefront."Furthermore, Keith Ferguson (Glomgold) is American, and David Tennant (Scrooge) really IS from Scotland.
David Tennant was always Matt Youngberg's first choice to voice Scrooge, even before Alan Young's death in May 2016.
Huey's full name is Hubert. Dewey's is Dewford. Louie's is Llewellyn.
In the first episode, places like St. Canard and Cape Suzzette are mentioned. St. Canard is the home of Drake Mallard aka Darkwing Duck. Cape Suzzette is the city in which the show TaleSpin (1990) takes place. It was confirmed at Comic-Con 2019 that aside from Darkwing Duck (whose first major role in this series was in The Duck Knight Returns! (2019) and minor appearances prior to that), several other characters from both shows appeared in Season 3, namely Gosalyn Mallard (known by her original name "Gosalyn Waddlemeyer" in this series) and Taurus Bulba from Darkwing Duck in Let's Get Dangerous! (2020) and adult versions of Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham from TaleSpin in The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker! (2021).
The show premiered on the 30th anniversary of DuckTales (1987). Disney XD aired the one-hour first episode on repeat for the entirety of August 12, 2017. Similarly, the same treatment was done for the series finale episode The Last Adventure! (2021), which was shown for the entirety of the premiere date of March 15, 2021.
Huey, Dewey and Louie's mother, Della, is seen in this series (who at first was mentioned but later appeared in the last scene of the Season 1 finale The Shadow War! (2018), and later became a recurring character starting in Season 2). This is the first time she appears in any animation medium since the boys made their first appearance in the Donald Duck short, 'Donald's Nephews.' In this case, however, she was called "Dumbella", a name that is used by Donald in this series as an insult.
Mrs. Beakley and Launchpad in this series take over the butler/chauffeur duties from Duckworth, McDuck's butler in DuckTales (1987). However, Duckworth himself would later be re-introduced as a ghost and become a recurring character later in the show.
Donald Duck was written in this version to not only show his comedic side from the Walt Disney cartoons, but his brave, adventurous side that was better displayed in the Carl Barks comic books.
Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones changed the age of Huey, Dewey and Louie from young kids to preteen. They also moved Webby from younger than the boys to the same age. They said they did this because they felt preteens have more possibilities, in they are more willing to push the envelope, to challenge the status quo, to disobey orders, while also being more aware of when they mess up and taking ownership of their mistakes. A similar thing was also done with Gosalyn from Darkwing Duck (1991) in her later debut in Let's Get Dangerous! (2020), whom like the triplets, was also mischievous in her original incarnation.
Each of the triplets is a foil to one of the older generation of Duck cousins. Both Huey and Fethry are nerdy Junior Woodchucks who prefer red and wear a cap, although Huey is more sensible and less eccentric. Both Dewey and Donald are adventurous and favor blue, although Dewey lacks Donald's bad temper. Both Louie and Gladstone are lazy smooth-talkers who love money (preferring to earn it the easy way) and always dress in green, although Louie isn't as selfish as Gladstone.
The series artwork is more stylized, homaging Disney comic artist Carl Barks whose work inspired the DuckTales saga.
2nd time that Huey, Dewey and Louie have different personalities, Physical Appearances aside from their Colours, and Voice Actors from each other, after Quack Pack (1996).
Lin-Manuel Miranda (who voices GizmoDuck) has cited the Darkwing Duck theme song as an inspiration for him in writing music; specifically its use of a two-key change. In Season 2 his character quotes the song incorrectly & completely without tune.
After the show started streaming on Disney+, Frank Angones began a series of tweets he called "#RewriteHistory" in response to his discovery that the first season was out of chronological order on the service. In these tweets, he goes into detail about various elements of the show's production, writing, and casting for each individual episode prior to season three. Among the things he revealed were various influences from Disney comics featuring Scrooge, his goals for the series and characters, and casting actors of a specific country/culture for characters of that culture (i.e. Greek actors for Greek characters). He also revealed his intention for Alan Young, the voice of Scrooge in the original series, to voice Scrooge's father prior to Young's death in 2016.
According to Matt Youngberg, the new character Mark Beaks represents a new generation of millionaires: "Mark is in the tech industry, he doesn't care as much about money as he cares about status and being buzzworthy and how many followers he has."
The character of Ludwig Von Drake had previously appeared in only one episode of the original DuckTales. He has a bigger role in this show.
Danny Pudi, voice of Huey Duck, and Jim Rash, voice of Gyro Gearloose, both starred in Community (2009) together. Additionally, Paget Brewster, who appeared in the final seasons of Community, voices Della Duck (Huey, Dewey & Louie's mother)
Aside from the nod to the NES game version of the moon theme (both a throwback and Della's lullaby) the oxychew is a nod itself to the DuckTales Remastered game; Gyro makes it black licorice flavored in the game as well.
This show depicts Scrooge's money bin as being on an island in the bay. Originally, it was on a hill.
Terence McGovern, who voiced Launchpad McQuack in DuckTales (1987), campaigned to reprise his role in this show, but he was denied along with the surviving members of the original cast.
Frank Welker, who voiced a number of characters in the Original DuckTales (1987) like Bigtime Beagle, Baggy Beagle, Poe De Spell, the Phantom Blot and Bubba the Caveduck, as well as provided the vocal effects for some Non-Anthropomorphic Animals and Monsters, returns in the Reboot (uncredited), but he only provides Vocal Effects in this series.
Donald Duck's houseboat, seen in several episodes, bears a strong visual resemblance to the Miss Daisy, Donald's boat in Disney's Theme Parks.
The Primitive Rocket the Moon Men create in Season 2 resembles the Rocket made in 1902's "a Trip to the Moon" by Georges Méliès.
David Tennant and Catherine Tate, who play rivals Scrooge McDuck and Magica DeSpell, previously played allies Dr. Who and Donna Noble in Doctor Who (2005). Tennant and Tate's predecessors Alan Young and June Foray respectively also have had connections, both were born in the 1910s, both had their acting careers go into their 90s such as notably in DuckTales: Remastered (2013), both of them passed away in the 2010s at 96 and 100 in age respectively, and they both had a collaboration prior to the Original DuckTales (1987) in The Smurfs (1981) as Farmer and Jokey Smurf respectively.
Not one Character appears in every Episode. Scrooge McDuck & Dewey come the Closest with appearing in 60 of the 69 Episode series.
This is David Tennant's third comic-book feature, after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) (the Fugitoid) and Jessica Jones (2015) (Purple Man).
Webby Vanderquack and Mrs. Beakley were overhauled from their 1987 versions to be stronger, more interesting characters. Matt Youngberg said they wanted better female characters in the reboot, so the characters were rewritten to have more personality, be bolder, more flawed, yet more complex. This was later done for both Mrs. Crackshell (now known as Officer Cabrera) and Gandra Dee for the same reason.
In the Original DuckTales (1987), all Beagle Boys aside from Ma Beagle had New York Accents. In the Reboot, even Ma Beagle has a Texan Accent like the other Beagle Boys do.
Every episode title ends with an exclamation mark, unlike the original series.
Baggy Beagle, Admiral Grimitz, Pete (in any form), Merlock, Oprah Webfeet, Mrs. Quackenbush and Launchpad's relatives are the only prominent characters of the original DuckTales (1987) to never appear in any form in the DuckTales (2017) reboot. The same could be said about the Beagle Boys Bankjob, Bugle and Babyface, whose only appearance was a non-speaking cameo.
Co-producer Frank Angones wanted to include Mickey Mouse in the series, but the character has been restrained from appearing by Disney executives in-person. However in the episode Moonvasion!, there is a Mickey Mouse reference as a watermelon named Mikey Melon, Mickey Mouse was a figment of Donald Duck's imagination in this series.
David Tennant and Kate Micucci previously appeared together in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) as Fugitoid and Irma respectively.
All Beagle Boys in this series but Ma Beagle have the same voice actor, Eric Bauza, similar to how Huey, Dewey and Louie in addition to Webby had so in the original series. Though each Beagle Boy has their own voice actor in the Original DuckTales (1987), some already did have the same voice actor, such as Frank Welker voicing both Bigtime and Baggy, and Chuck McCann voicing both Burger and Bouncer.
In the episode "Timephoon!", when Della and Louie have a very heated argument, Della tells Louie that he hopped into a dangerous contraption without warning, and Louie then said "I wonder who I got that from!" It is revealed that he inherited a trait from Della, her careless and reckless behavior, following her punishing Louie.
Though Jason Marsden, who voiced a few characters in the Reboot hadn't been in the Original DuckTales (1987), he as a Teenager did appear in the TV Special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) where his character met up with Huey, Dewey and Louie, in addition to voicing one of Scrooge's Workers in DuckTales: Remastered (2013).
Graham McTavish (Fergus McDuck) previously appeared alongside David Tennant and Kate Micucci in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012).
Eric Bauza voices some of the Beagle Boys. This marks his second performance in a Ducktales production, having previously portrayed Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck in DuckTales: Remastered (2013).
Both Hal Smith (Glomgold in the Original Series) and Keith Ferguson (Glomgold in the Reboot) have both voiced Disney Owls. Smith was the Original Voice of Owl from the Winnie the Pooh Franchise from 1966 until his death in 1994, whilst Ferguson voiced Friend Owl in Bambi II (2006). Keith Ferguson is also not related to Television host Craig Ferguson who voiced Owl in Winnie the Pooh (2011).
Both Danny Pudi (Huey) and Russi Taylor (all 3 Triplets and Webby in the original DuckTales show) have both voiced Smurfs characters. Pudi voiced Brainy Smurf in Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), and Taylor voiced Smoogle in The Smurfs (1981).
In Season 2 Ep. 22, Louie attempts to get to "Big Rock Candy Mountain" a reference to the Harry McClintock Bluegrass song "Big Rock Candy Mountain."
Bobby Moynihan (Louie) and Brian Cummings (Doofus Drake in the original Series) both voiced characters in the Monsters Inc./University franchise. Cummings filled in for John Goodman as James P "Sully" Sullivan in some of his video game appearances, while Moynihan voiced Chet Alexander in Monsters University (2013).
Both Margo Martindale (Ma Beagle) and Keith Ferguson (Glomgold) voiced Characters in Disney/Pixar's Cars Franchise. Martindale voiced Louise "Barnstormer" Nash in Cars 3 (2017), whilst Ferguson filled in for Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen in his Video Game appearances.
Due to his work on this show (and among others), Tony Anselmo was not able to reprise his role as Donald Duck in Mickey and the Roadster Racers (2017). Donald would be voiced by Daniel Ross much to Tony's displeasure.