NEWS: A NEW Disney CEO Candidate Has Emerged To Replace Bob Iger

A new twist has come to Disney’s CEO search.

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger ©Disney

While the Walt Disney Company has a litany of high-profile projects on the horizon — from new theme park lands to highly anticipated films — there’s arguably nothing more important to the future of the company than the search for Bob Iger’s (second) CEO successor. Now, a new report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the search may be much different than we initially expected.

In recent months, internal Disney executives, including Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, and Josh D’Amaro, were seen as the leading candidates to be named Iger’s successor in early 2026. However, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, incoming Disney board chairman James Gorman, who was brought into the company to lead the CEO search, wants to expand the pool of potential CEOs to those outside of the company’s current executives.

James P. Gorman ©Disney

Specifically, the paper reports that Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson’s name has surfaced as a potential candidate. Wilson has been intertwined with Disney several times in recent years. He interviewed for the ESPN CEO position several years ago and led talks (which fell through) about Disney potentially acquiring EA games several years ago.

©Disney

In addition to Wilson’s name, the Journal also reports that Iger has spoken to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about that company’s somewhat unique dual-CEO structure, allegedly to gauge whether a similar approach could work at Disney.

©Disney

Intrigue over Disney’s CEO search will likely continue to build over the next year, as the official announcement isn’t coming until early 2026. Stay tuned to AllEars for more updates on all this corporate drama.