Chris Evans Voices Buzz Lightyear in the New Trailer for Pixar’s ‘Lightyear’
Taika Waititi, Keke Palmer, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. are also in the voice cast for the sci-fi adventure.
Chris Evans in Pixar's 'Lightyear.'
While trying to avoid overloading on sequels, Pixar has found an interesting way to keep exploring the ‘Toy Story’ universe with this new movie about the “real” Buzz Lightyear. And there’s a new trailer for the adventure featuring the character, with the movie simply known as ‘Lightyear’.
Chris Evans provides the voice for Buzz here, marking this as a distinct, human take on the Star Command hero so memorably brought to life with the vocal tones of Tim Allen in the four ‘Toy Story’ movies. Here, the basic concept is that we’re watching one of the movies that the confused Buzz astronaut toy is based on.
The new trailer does shed a few more details on ‘Lightyear’s story, revealing that he and his Star Command team are stranded on an alien planet and looking for a way off, spending lots of time working on a craft that can escape the place, with the heroic Buzz in the pilot’s seat.
But even if he does manage to blast off safely, there are other challenges to be found, including a threat that very much looks like Emperor Zurg from ‘Toy Story’, which makes us wonder whether the toy’s comical reveal that he’s Buzz’s dad will hold true here. It’s still unknown, not least because the version of Zurg presented here mostly seems to be a dangerous android and not quite the Darth Vader-style baddie we’ve seen.
Also new is more of a cast list for those around Evans. Keke Palmer, Dale Soules and Taika Waititi voice a group of ambitious recruits, while Pixar veteran/’The Good Dinosaur’ director Peter Sohn plays Buzz’s robot companion, Sox (who could be this movie’s answer to Baby Yoda).
Plus, there’s Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. "The cast for ‘Lightyear’ is truly a dream team,” says director Angus MacLane in a statement released alongside the new trailer. “Each of the performers immediately inhabited their character, which gave us the opportunity to play a bit during recording sessions. This resulted in a level of specificity that elevated the material and brought additional depth to the characters’ relationships. It has been a privilege to work with such a talented and generous cast."
As for why MacLane decided to tap back into ‘Toy Story’s mythos but in a fresh way? “In ‘Toy Story,’ there seemed to be this incredible backstory to him being a Space Ranger that’s only touched upon, and I always wanted to explore that world further,” he says. “So, my ‘Lightyear’ pitch was, 'What was the movie that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy?’ I wanted to see that movie. And now I’m lucky enough to get to make it.”
Finally, we also now know that Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino, a long-time Pixar collaborator, is back again to provide the ‘Lightyear’ score.
‘Lightyear’ will be headed to infinity – and theaters – on June 17.
