Lightyear trailer: Chris Evans voices Buzz, confuses Tim Allen fans

A new trailer for a Toy Story spin-off has confused fans who noticed something different about Buzz Lightyear.

Some Toy Story fans felt a rollercoaster of emotions today with the drop of the first trailer for Lightyear.

The movie is a spin-off from the four Toy Story movies, and tells the origin story of the legendary space ranger.

A new Toy Story movie is exciting news, but confusion reigned when Tim Allen’s voice was nowhere to be heard. Instead, the dulcet tones of Chris Evans rang out in the final moments of the Lightyear trailer.

Evans, whose casting in the role was announced in 2020, only said one trailing word (“… and…”) but that was enough for some to ask what happened to Allen?

The explanation is a little meta. The character we see in Lightyear is not the Buzz Lightyear audiences have known since the first Toy Story movie released in 1995.

Instead, this is the original character upon which the in-universe Buzz Lightyear toy was based. The Evans Lightyear is the Prime Lightyear, if you will.

Buzz Lightyear gets an origin story. Picture: Disney/Pixar

Chris Evans’ casting was first announced in 2020. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP

Lightyear director Angus MacLane explained to EW: “Set in the world of Toy Story is kind of weird. Another way to get at it, it’s a straightforward sci-fi action film about the Buzz Lightyear character.

“In the Toy Story universe, it would be like a movie that maybe Andy would have seen, that would have made him want a Buzz Lightyear figure.

“It’s that character but as the space ranger, not as the toy.”

Pixar boss Pete Docter said at the time of Evans’ casting in 2020, “Back when we created the very first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic blockbuster film.

“Well, all these years later, we decided it’s time to make that film.”

It’s also not the first time the character has been voiced by a different actor. Patrick Warburton took on the role for the 2000 animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

Buzz and Woody made their debut in 1995, voiced by Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. Picture: Pixar

Some fans speculated that Allen had been dumped because of his conservative politics, but that ignores the fact that Allen voiced Buzz as recently as 2019 in Toy Story 4. Allen has been open about his political leanings for decades.

There is also no confirmation that Allen will not reprise his voice role as Buzz in some form down the track – including maybe a sneaky cameo in Lightyear? We can only dream.

Lightyear will be released in cinemas in June 2022.