Kumail Nanjiani’s Best Role Recast And No One Told Him
Adventure Time fans have been overjoyed to get new episodes in the form of the new Max spin-off Aventure Time: Fionna and Cake. However, there is one notable thing that’s off about the new series, and that’s the fact that Prismo, one of the best side characters from the original series and voiced by Kumail Nanjiani, has been recast. While Sean Rohani has done a great job as the replacement voice, fans were wondering why Nanjiani didn’t return — and it’s apparently because he had no idea it was happening.
The spin-off Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake replaced Kumail Nanjiani as the voice of Prismo, and there’s two different stories as to why.
Deadline reported on some now-deleted Tweets from Kumail Nanjiani where he said, “Yeah that’s not me,” adding, “He’s one of my absolute favorite characters I’ve ever had the honor of playing.” He also added, “Unfortunately they never asked me to come back and voice him again,” and, “I would have done it for free.”
However, showrunner Adam Muto jumped in and said that the casting team had reached out but that several offers to his reps led to a respectful pass, adding, “we would have loved to have you back,” and, “sorry it didn’t work out.”
It definitely seems like some rep slipped up somewhere because Kumail Nanjiani hadn’t heard about any offers at all and replied to Muto saying, “Wow, they never told me,” adding, “that is ridiculous,” and “I am very sorry for that.” Nanjiani went on to say that he would be talking to his reps before congratulating Muto on the premiere of the new show and signing off.
The director of Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake reached out to Kumail Nanjiani and explained that they did offer the role to the star, but he never knew about it.
So, it seems like Nanjiani either wasn’t shown the offers by his reps or that the offers got lost in the shuffle but either way, he definitely seems disappointed that he missed out on the opportunity to return to one of his favorite roles.
When Kumail Nanjiani first appeared as Prismo in a 2012 episode of Adventure Time, he wasn’t nearly as well-known as he is today. Since then, he has risen to superstardom after appearing in numerous major projects, including HBO’s Silicon Valley, Marvel’s Eternals, the film The Big Sick, and recently, shows like Welcome to Chippendales and Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, Nanjiani clearly still has a lot of love for the role and would have apparently done it for free.
“Yeah that’s not me. He’s one of my absolute favorite characters I’ve ever had the honor of playing. Unfortunately they never asked me to come back and voice him again, I would have done it for free.”
Kumail Nanjiani on being replaced as Prismo
It seems likely that Kumail Nanjiani’s reps don’t show him every offer they receive, and it’s possible they could have deemed the offers for Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake to be too small to consider and wouldn’t have known Nanjiani’s attachment to the property.
Still, it seems like a pretty big mistake, considering Adventure Time is a massively popular show and that the spin-off is on Max, which is obviously a fairly well-known platform. Again, it’s possible that these offers just slipped through the cracks, but Muto did say that multiple offers were pushed through and that they did receive an actual answer.
In any case, it’s a shame that this situation led to Kumail Nanjiani missing out on returning to a role that is beloved by both him and fans alike. Maybe they’ll be able to bring him on if the show does a second season. In the meantime, you can stream the first two episodes of Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake on Max and new episodes each week.
