Solar Opposites Producer Breaks Down Korvo Recasting (Exclusive)
Dan Stevens was brought in to replace Justin Roiland as Korvo in Solar Opposites Season 4, giving the lead character a completely different voice.
The fourth season of Solar Opposites is now on Hulu and, in case you didn't already know, Korvo sounds a lot different this time around. For the first three seasons, the Opposites patriarch was voiced by series co-creator Justin Roiland, who was dismissed from the show ahead of Season 4. Roiland's other show, Rick & Morty, plans to recast his characters with similar voices, but Solar Opposites went in the opposite direction. Beauty and the Beast and Legion star Dan Stevens takes over as Korvo in the new season, sporting a regal British accent, sounding nothing at all like the previous iteration of the character.
Earlier this summer, Solar Opposites announced Stevens' casting with a clip from the Season 4 premiere, showing how Korvo got his new voice. Ahead of the new season's debut, Solar Opposites producer Sydney Ryan spoke with ComicBook.com via email about why the creative team went in such a different direction for Korvo's new voice.
"We didn't want to match the previous voice and felt like it would come across like we were doing a cover song," Ryan told us. "Solar is a show where wild stuff can happen, and since the aliens already have ray guns that can do all sorts of things, we thought it would be funny to use this in-show method to explain the voice change. Even with a big shift, we still wanted to preserve the humor and emotional aspects that we've built for Korvo over the years. We worked with our casting team, listened to a ton of auditions, and met with some incredible actors."
Ryan went on to explain why it was Stevens specifically who landed the job. The actor was apparently already a big fan of Solar Opposites, and his natural accent ended up being the perfect new direction for Korvo.
"It was actually Executive Vice President and Head of 20th Television Animation, Marci Proietto, who recommended Dan because he had done an excellent job on another 20th show," said Ryan. "We thought maybe he was too fancy for us; I mean, this is Matthew Crawley – he played the Beast in the live action Beauty and the Beast! He's a movie star! We were surprised to learn that Dan was already a fan of the show and as soon as he read for Korvo, it just felt right. For a minute, there was discussion of having him use his American accent... but there was something so funny about what a huge change going with this natural British accent would be, we just had to do it. Dan is hilarious and a phenomenal actor and we're incredibly lucky to have him on Solar."
What Is Solar Opposites Season 4 About?
Here's the official synopsis for Solar Opposites Season 4:
"Solar Opposites centers around a team of four aliens who are evenly split on whether Earth is awful or awesome. Korvo (Dan Stevens) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone) only see the pollution, crass consumerism, and human frailty while Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Jesse (Mary Mack) love TV, junk food and fun stuff. In Season 4, we pack up the sci-fi and get normal... for a second. Then it's back to classic Solar chaos, mayhem in the Wall, and some all new Silvercops adventures!"
All 11 episodes of Solar Opposites Season 4 are now available to stream on Hulu.
