Bob Iger left Disney’s CEO post just before COVID exploded. Will his second exit be followed by a plot twist?

Hollywood and Wall Street have learned to roll their eyes when Disney CEO Bob Iger says he’s stepping down. In the years since Iger took the CEO job in 2005, he scheduled and then postponed his retirement four times before he eventually handed over the CEO position to parks chief Bob Chapek in 2020—and then took it back about three years later. Is this, finally, the real thing?

It sure seems like it. The company announced today that, at long last, Iger will soon step down as Walt Disney’s CEO, surrendering the job to Disney parks chief Josh D’Amaro at the company’s annual meeting on March 18. This time, there are no ifs, ands, or buts.

Well, almost none. Some 500 words into today’s announcement is the intriguing statement that Iger “upon transition [on March 18] will continue to serve as senior advisor and a member of the Disney board until his retirement from the company on Dec. 31, 2026.”

“Senior advisor”? That’s a new title for Iger, and while it may seem harmless, it also seems unnecessary. (Fortune has not been able to get a detailed definition of the role from Disney and will add it if it’s received.)

Longtime Disney watchers know that a phrase like that must be there for a reason. The last time Iger stepped down, he shocked the entertainment and business worlds by abruptly announcing Chapek’s promotion to CEO, effective immediately, in a Friday afternoo...