Patricia Heaton Rips Disney for “Castrating” Buzz Lightyear By Replacing Tim Allen

Plenty of buzz is building around Pixar’s latest film, Lightyear, but Patricia Heaton isn’t so psyched about the upcoming release. The actress slammed the Toy Story prequel on Twitter Tuesday (June 14), complaining that her friend Tim Allen had been cheated out of the role he originally played after Chris Evans was tapped to voice the titular character.

“Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting my pal @ofctimallen Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns. Tim IS Buzz!,” Heaton tweeted. “Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?”

Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear in the first Toy Story film in 1995 and has played the character in multiple projects since, including three sequel films, plus video games, shorts and even a Cars cameo. Despite his history with Buzz, Allen was not cast in Lightyear. Instead, the studio pulled in Evans, who plays a younger version of Buzz in Lightyear, which tells the origin story of the space ranger.

While Heaton was ticked off about Allen’s exclusion from Lightyear, producer Galyn Susman previously explained to The Hollywood Reporter that Pixar cast Evans because they wanted to create a different world for audiences to experience outside of Toy Story.

“Tim really is the embodiment of the toy Buzz, and this isn’t the toy world, so it really doesn’t make sense. There’s not really a role,” Susman said. “It would just cause more confusion for audiences instead of helping them understand the movie we’re trying to tell.”

Allen and Evans haven’t yet responded to Heaton’s comments, but Evans appears to have nothing but admiration for the man who originated Buzz. In a Tuesday interview with USA Today, Evans praised Allen for his influence and role in creating one of the most beloved animated characters. He told the outlet, “The reason we’re doing this movie is because Tim Allen made such an iconic impact.”

Evans added, “Not only would you be a fool to not take his interpretation because it worked so well, but the truth is this character is in fact the human version of that toy, so there does need to be overlap in terms of their cadence and nature.”

Lightyear premieres in theaters June 17.