Chris Evans Lifts Off in “Lightyear” Official Trailer
Buzz Lightyear is one of Pixar’s most legendary characters, the Space Rangin’ ying to Woody’s wholesome cowboy yang. Voiced by Tim Allen, Buzz first touched down in 1995’s seminal Toy Story, alongside Tom Hanks’ aforementioned cowboy Woody and a whole room full of talking toys that changed animated films forever. Now, 27-years later (!!), Buzz is getting his own origin story, and none other than Chris Evans is stepping in to lend his voice to the younger, pre-Toy Story Buzz. Pixar has released the first official trailer, which gives us a glimpse of director Angus MacLane’s passion project. The premise of Lightyear is that this is the real story of the man who the Buzz Lightyear toy was inspired by.
Let Chris Evans himself explain the above, in case you’re slight confused:
And just to be clear, this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) December 11, 2020
The basic outline of the plot expanded upon in the trailer is this—Buzz (again, the real Buzz, not the toy) and a slew of his fellow astronaut-adjacent friends have been marooned on a distant planet. Buzz needs to successfully navigate a ship home to rescue everyone, but things get complicated. Those complications are embodied by a massive, highly hostile robot to name just one obstacle in Buzz’s path.
Yet our heroic Space Ranger isn’t alone. He’s got Sox, a robot cat (voiced by Peter Sohn) as a companion, and a lot of people counting on him. In the film’s synopsis, MacLane said he’s always wondered what adventures the real Buzz got into as a Space Ranger that made Andy in Toy Story want the toy Buzz as a companion. Now, MacLane has brought that adventure to life, and Lightyear promises to reveal just what made the real Buzz so special in the first place.
Joining Evans and Sohn in the cast are Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Taika Waititi, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Check out the trailer below. Lightyear lands in theaters in June 2022.
Here’s the official synopsis from Pixar:
Lightyear is the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear—the hero who inspired the toy—follows the legendary Space Ranger on an intergalactic adventure. “Buzz’s world was always something I was excited about,” said director Angus MacLane. “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. So my ‘Lighytear’ 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.”
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Featured image: AND BEYOND — Disney and Pixar’s “Lightyear” is an all-new, original feature film that presents the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voice of Chris Evans)—the hero who inspired the toy—introducing the legendary Space Ranger who would win generations of fans. Directed by Angus MacLane (co-director “Finding Dory”) and produced by Galyn Susman (“Toy Story That Time Forgot”), the sci-fi action-adventure releases on June 17, 2022. © 2021 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
