Netflix(NEW YORK) — The voice cast for Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a who’s who of Hollywood talent, featuring everyone from Taron Egerton to Mark Hamill to Awkwafina.
But Jason Isaacs, who voices The Emperor in the puppet-driven fantasy series, was the very first cast member to lay down his vocals.
“I went in and I said I’ve looked at the old movie on YouTube and I’m just wondering are we doing those voices or what are we doing?” Isaacs tells ABC Radio. “And [director] Louis Leterrier went, ‘I dunno. You’re the first.’ And I went, ‘What? Can you play me some of the other people?’”
“And so I had to lay down a marker and work out what kind of voice this creature would sound like,” he adds.
That being said, Isaacs — best known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films and, more recently, Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery — was thrilled to be part of such an expansive cast, which also includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Nathalie Emmanuel, Keegan Michael Key, Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Headey, Simon Pegg and Caitriona Balfe.
“The voice cast is insane,” says Isaacs. “It’s everybody I’ve ever heard of. I couldn’t believe that I was included in this roster of these people.”
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson film, The Dark Crystal, and explores the opposing forces in the world of Thra. The Henson Company designed the puppets this time around, and Isaacs says they are “phenomenal.”
“You won’t have seen anything like it,” he promises. “Physically and aesthetically it’s beautiful and it’s stunning.”
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance debuts Friday on Netflix.
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