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Bob Chapek is ready to tell his side of the story of his rocky ride as Disney’s chief executive.
Chapek has written a 272-page memoir, “Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth.” In it,
he “reveals for the first time the high-stakes maneuverings that unraveled behind the scenes from his 2020 appointment to his subsequent dismissal in 2022,” according to an announcement from Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books, which is publishing the book. It’s set to be released Sept. 29, 2026.
Chapek took over the Disney CEO job in February 2020 — as Bob Iger’s hand-picked successor. But in November 2022, the Disney board ousted Chapek after a series of missteps and called Iger back into service. (Iger stepped down as CEO this March, replaced by former parks head Josh D’Amaro.)
Now, after four years of “reflection and distance, Chapek is going behind the scenes of one of the world’s most recognizable — and reticent — companies on earth,” Gallery Books said. The publisher is touting the book as “a revealing and thrilling story of ambition, power and the price of Disney magic.”
Per the blurb for “Behind the Castle Walls,” within weeks of Chapek’s start as Disney CEO, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down parks, movie theaters and cruise ships — forcing him “to steer the billion-dollar empire through unprecedented times. The stakes were high, the decisions unforgiving, and the backlash often inordinate, leaving him to wonder whether he had become the scapegoat in it all. In 2022, Chapek was out; his former boss was back in.”
In a 2023 regulatory filing, Disney said its board of directors “determined that Mr. Chapek was no longer the right person to serve in the CEO role” in the months following the renewal of Chapek’s contract in June 2022. “The significant developments and change in the broader macroeconomic environment over this period informed how the board viewed the appropriate leader in light of the rapidly evolving industry and market dynamics. The board therefore concluded that, as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Mr. Iger is best situated to lead the company while an appropriate longer-term successor is identified.”
Chapek’s memoir recounts his formative years growing up in small-town Indiana, where he was raised by his mother and WWII-veteran father. As a kid, “he learned that hard work, dedication, resilience, preparation, curiosity, grit and determination can take you far,” according to the book’s blurb.
In 1993, Chapek joined the Walt Disney Co. as the marketing director for home entertainment. He went to hold key roles including president of Disney Consumer Products and chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
Variety has reached out to Disney for comment.
