After playing Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear in four Toy Story movies, Tim Allen left some pretty big shoes to fill. And who better to fill them than Chris Evans? The actor, who recently wrapped almost a decade in the MCU as Captain America, portrays “the real Buzz” in Pixar’s upcoming film, Lightyear. And by real, we mean that the Buzz Lightyear in the movie is the one that inspired Andy’s favorite toy in Toy Story.
In a newly released behind-the-scenes featurette for Lightyear, Evans confesses to being a Pixar nerd and calls it a dream come true to take over the role of Buzz Lightyear. Evans’ co-stars, Keke Palmer and Taika Waititi, also share their admiration for Evans’ performance. Waititi even claims that Evans has memorized the lines from other Disney movies as well.
But if that wasn’t enough to your heart pumping with excitement, Pixar and Disney have also released a preview clip from Lightyear which features Buzz and his friend, Alisha Hawthorne, as they face hostile terrain on an alien planet. They do pretty well for themselves, but their companion, “the rookie,” is not as fortunate.
Palmer co-stars in the movie as Alisha’s granddaughter, Izzy Hawthorne, with Keira Hairston as young Izzy. Peter Sohn co-stars as the robot cat known as Sox, with Waititi as Mo Morrison, Dale Soules as Darby Steel, Uzo Aduba as Alisha Hawthorne, Mary McDonald-Lewis as I.V.A.N., Efren Ramirez as Diaz, Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Burnside, and James Brolin as Emperor Zurg.
Angus MacLane directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jason Headley. The original story was written by MacLane, Headley, and Matthew Aldrich. Lightyear will soar into theaters this Friday, June 17. But if you can wait, it will come to Disney+ later this summer.
