Optimus Prime, Lilo and Yoda’s voices deserved to be remembered too ❤️
The Emmys honored many beloved names this year, but for cartoon/anime fans, three missing voices were impossible not to notice.
Daveigh Chase gave a generation the fearless, funny voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and brought extraordinary emotion to Chihiro in the English version of Spirited Away. Her performances became part of two animated classics that millions still revisit today. She was among the notable names omitted from the televised In Memoriam segment.
Peter Cullen didn’t simply voice Optimus Prime. For more than four decades, his deep, compassionate delivery became the sound of leadership itself. He also brought warmth to Eeyore and countless other characters, eventually receiving a Children’s & Family Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award for a career that shaped generations. His absence from the broadcast was also noticed by fans.
And Tom Kane became one of animation’s great utility voices: Yoda, Professor Utonium, Admiral Yularen, the unforgettable narrator of The Clone Wars, and many more. His work stretched across cartoons, games, films and some of the biggest franchises in entertainment. Reports also noted that he was left out of the televised tribute.
The Emmys only have a few minutes to represent an entire year of loss, but that limitation doesn’t make these absences feel smaller.
They may not have appeared on the screen during the tribute, but their voices already live permanently inside the characters we grew up with. ❤️🕊️
He heard humans referring to him as N.B.E.-01 for the better half of a century and the first thing he does when he thaws is correct them before rocking their shit with the flail. This scene will always go hard