They Didn’t Let Tim Allen Do It’: Tom Hanks Unhappy With Disney Replacing Tim Allen in Lightyear

The whole debate amongst Toy Story fans continues to rage, Tom Hanks has finally opened on Tim Allen’s Buzz getting recast for the recently released Lightyear.

Allen and Hanks previously led the Toy Story franchise cast as Buzz and Woody, one of the most valued possessions of Andy, a young boy, as they embark on various adventures while dealing with a few moving woes, bad neighbors, and Andy growing up and eventually leaving them behind.

Allen and Hanks Led The Franchise Over 4 Films

Both the actors have gone on to receive some really rave reviews for their brilliant performances in the Toy Story films and have played their roles through a total of four mainline movies.

How is Lightyear Different?

Lightyear is an origin story for the fictional space adventurer based on Allen’s Buzz, exploring his initial days as a fearless Space Ranger trying to help his crew from escaping from an alien planet that he had them marooned on.

The story will be shifting its focus away from the toys, with Chris Evans taking over Buzz’s role from Allen, something that has left many fans of Toy Story quite divided on the exact necessity of the whole shift. As the movie continues its underperformance at the box office, here’s a franchise veteran sharing his thoughts on the Lightyear recasting.

While talking to CinemaBlend about his excellent work in Elvis by  Baz Luhrmann, Tom Hanks weighed in on the debate of the recast of Lightyear. Hanks shared that it felt very weird to see yet another actor take over the role from his friend Tim Allen, even questioning the decision of the studio to do so.

See what Hanks said below:

“How about that? I actually wanted to go head-to-head with Tim Allen and then they didn’t let Tim Allen do it. I don’t understand that. Here’s the thing: I want to go back in the theatre with a bunch of strangers and leave with something in common. That’s what I want to do and, going to see a movie with [Allen] – I’m looking forward to that.”

Tim Allen also broke his silence on Lightyear, saying that the studio  creatives in charge of the four Toy Story films were not actually behind the Lightyear spinoff and there are no major connections to the main films, though he did note it is a “wonderful story.”

This whole division over the recasting of Lightyear seems like it has worked against the favor of the film, having only grossed $189 million against its huge $200 million production budget.