What is the Lightyear 2 release date? Buzz Lightyear is many things, but he’s not a toy, not anymore. And we’re here to dissect the details about a prospective sequel to his latest venture, Lightyear.
Yes, you read that right Buzz has his very own Pixar movie, Lightyear, a de-fictionalised version of Andy from Toy Story‘s favourite movie and he’s a real Space Ranger now played by Chris Evans. Of course, now we have a new version of Buzz, we’ve naturally started to wonder about the future of Star Command’s greatest hero.
So the question inevitably is, will there be a sequel? Here’s everything we know about the Lightyear 2 release date.
Lightyear 2 release date speculation
As of August 2023, there is no Lightyear 2 release date, and it hasn’t been officially greenlit. Unfortunately, we don’t see it happening either, as Lightyear was a box office disaster earning just $215 million worldwide against a $200 million production budget.
Were Pixar and Disney to surprise us and announce a follow-up, though, we can use the production time on Lightyear to hazard a guess as to when we’ll likely see a sequel. Development on Lightyear began in 2016, and it wasn’t released until 2022 – that’s a seven-year production cycle from the initial idea to the big screen.
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We doubt a hypothetical Lightyear 2 would take that long because they’ve already built the world both narratively and in terms of animation.
Disney announced the film properly in 2020, and we think a two-year development time is far more reasonable for this potential sequel. So were we to guess we’d be looking at 2024 earliest, possibly 2025, depending on the resources Pixar pours into the project.
Lightyear 2 plot speculation
There are no details regarding the Lightyear 2 plot right now, but we suspect the potential movie would see Buzz training his new corp of Space Rangers.
The first animated movie ended with Buzz being tasked with setting up a new corp of Space Rangers, and his first recruits were Sox, Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison, and Darby Steel. Last we saw this new intrepid team. They were set to blast off for adventures unknown so a sequel could follow the team on their next mission.
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There are a few dangling plot threads from Lightyear that could be addressed as well. Where did the other Buzz find the Zurg suit and the robot army?
Does that mean that there’s another Zurg in Buzz’s time? Why did no one come looking for Buzz and his crew? Did something calamitous happen to the Space Rangers?
We actually asked director Angus McClane if he’d like to make a sequel, and he certainly seemed to have some idea where he’d take the character next, telling us: “I’d be open to it… I think I know where he goes next.”
Lightyear 2 cast speculation
Were there to be a sequel, we imagine that Chris Evans would return as Buzz in the Lightyear 2 cast. Similarly, it’s likely, considering the ending, that his new crew, Izzy Hawthorne (Keke Palmer), Sox (Peter Sohn), Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi), and Darby Steel (Dale Soules), will also return as well.
We’d like to see Isiah Whitlock Jr return as well as Commander Burnside, Buzz’s new boss. Poor Burnside didn’t get nearly enough to do in this film, and it’d be cool if he got to go on the adventure next time.
One person who’s unlikely to return is James Brolin, who played Zurg. With his ship blowing up at the end of the film, seemingly killing the tyrant, it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing his ugly iron grimace again. Although when it comes to bad guys, you can’t say anything for sure.
If you love the adventures of Buzz and his crew, check out our guide to the best cartoon characters. If you want to know more about all the fantastic new movies coming in 2023. Or look ahead to the Toy Story 5 release date and Inside Out 2 release date