Prismo is back in Max's Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake, but isn’t voiced by Kumail Nanjiani, who played him in the original series. And, according to Nanjiani himself, it wasn't due to lack of interest from him.
“Yeah that’s not me,” he confirmed in a now-deleted post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). “I would have loved to have voiced Prismo again. He’s one of my absolute favorite characters I’ve ever had the honor of playing. He is very close to my heart. Unfortunately, they never asked me to come back and voice him again. I would have done it for free.”
There’s just one thing – showrunner Adam Muto says they did reach out.
“Hey, we would have loved to have you back,” he replied. “We were told by casting that several offers went out to your reps. We said we could be flexible in scheduling but received a respectful pass. Sorry it didn’t work out.”
Prismo first appeared in the Adventure Time episode Finn the Human and was revealed to be a cosmic entity. He’s a Wish Master, a manifestation of an old man’s dream, and resides in the Time Room at the center of the multiverse.
Notably, he can grant any being in the multiverse one wish… And it looks as though Nanjiani would wish he never missed that call.
“Wow. They never told me,” he wrote to Muto. “That is ridiculous. I am very sorry for that. And I will be talking to my reps. Can you tell me when you would have sent the offer? I want to figure out what happened. And congrats on the premiere!”
Wow. They never told me. That is ridiculous. I am very sorry for that. And I will be talking to my reps. Can you tell me when you would have sent the offer? I want to figure out what happened. And congrats on the premiere!
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) September 3, 2023
IGN has reached out to Nanjiani's reps for further comment. When reached by IGN, representatives for Max had nothing more to add to the situation.
Unfortunately, though, this sort of thing happens a lot. After Star Trek: Picard and Carnival Row writer Marc Bernardin posted a screenshot of Nanjiani and Muto's interaction on Instagram, other creatives took to the comments of that post to lift the lid on times it had happened to them.
“I once offered a lead role on an indie film to a particular actor,” said Missing producer Sev Ohanian. “We had a meeting with the actor, he said he’d get back to us. His rep called us it’s a no go. I had a feeling something was up. We called the actor directly and he met with us again, said he actually hasn’t decided yet. Ended up taking on the role. His agent was P****D at me. The movie blows up. Actor made a ton of money and got more acclaim. Agent still won’t admit we were right.”
Still, it would have been nice to hear Nanjiani back on Adventure Time.
IGN’s Fionna & Cake review gave it 8/10 and said: “Rather than trying to re-bottle the original series’ lightning, Fionna & Cake is a mirthful yet melancholic reflection wrapped in a multiverse story that transcends any nostalgic trappings, tapping into something far more incisive about the meta nature of its own storytelling and growing beyond what once was.”
Want to read more about Adventure Time? Check out the 25 best adult cartoon TV shows as well as how Adventure Time inspired a new generation of creators.
Thumbnail credit: Kate Green/Getty Images for eOne
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
