Chris Evans supports Taika Waititi calling himself the star of ‘Lightyear’
Disney and Pixar dropped the second trailer for upcoming Toy Story spinoff Lightyear today, which left fans even more hyped to discover the Space Ranger from Star Command’s origins. What’s more, the new trailer came along with the confirmation of the film’s full cast. We already knew, of course, that Chris Evans was taking over the role of Buzz Lightyear from Tim Allen. Now we’re aware that fellow MCU veteran Taika Waititi has boarded the production alongside him.
In case you missed it, Waititi announced his involvement in Lightyear in his typical tongue-in-cheek style, joking on Twitter that he’s real “main star of this movie” but that he “pulled rank” to give Evans’ side character “Bazz” the spotlight in the trailer.
Chris Evans has since responded to Waititi’s tweet and has taken the joke in good stead, going so far as to call the New Zealand actor/filmmaker “the main star of every movie whether you’re in them or not.”
Waititi then responded back to Evans’ kind words with a heart emoji and a pair of praying thank-you hands.
Evans and Waititi are joined in the Lightyear cast by Keke Palmer (Scream Queens), Dale Soules (Orange is the New Black), Uzo Aduba (Mrs. America), James Brolin (Sweet Tooth), Mary McDonald-Lewis (Archer), Efren Ramirez (Constantine), and Isiah Whitlock Jr (Da 5 Bloods). Specific roles haven’t been revealed at this time, though the new trailer did introduce a fresh character who will no doubt make a big impact on fans.
That’s Socks, the adorable cat-shaped robot that accompanies Buzz on his adventures to infinity and beyond. Unless we’re very much mistaken, though, that’s not Waititi providing the voice of Socks, so we’ll have to wait and see who he’s playing. It would be hilarious if the Jojo Rabbit director is secretly Buzz’s nemesis, the Vader-parodying Emperor Zurg, instead.
Lightyear is set to blast off into theaters starting June 17.
