One of the most popular animated comic book shows, Prime Video’s Invincible, has just debuted the first 3 episodes of its third season. Developed by original Invincible comic creator Robert Kirkman and showrunner Simon Racciopica, the Prime Video original series was criticized for its split-up release model for its second season, running from 2023-2024 in two parts. The wait for Invincible Season 3, though, proved to be well worth it, as the Amazon show has once again earned astounding praise with its second perfect 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes — each for the last two seasons.
With Invincible Season 4 already in production and a new Battle Beast spin-off comic series set for release in April, Invincible fans are getting utterly spoiled. One of the most praised aspects of the Invincible animated series adaptation is its stacked voice cast. The show is led by Steven Yeun, best known from AMC’s The Walking Dead, Netflix’s Beef, and A24’s Oscar-winning film Minari. Yeun has delivered a career-defining voice performance as Mark Grayson throughout all 3 seasons. He’s joined by acting heavyweights J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) as his parents, Nolan and Debbie Grayson.
J.K. Simmons’ character is also known as the sometimes villainous Omni-Man, who has impacted pop culture similarly to Antony Starr’s Homelander from another Amazon series, The Boys. In Invincible, Mark Grayson must rewrite his destiny and protect Earth from his own alien race, the Viltrumites, putting him at odds with his own father.
Invincible’s Voice Cast Gets More Stacked Each Season
With Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, and Sandra Oh as the show’s central family trio, it’s unsurprising to see how jam-packed the supporting cast is. Amazon’s Invincible also features the voice talents of Gillian Jacobs (Community), Jason Mantzoukas (Big Mouth), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), Walton Goggins (Fallout), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), and Seth Rogen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), who also serves as producer on the series. This doesn’t even cover the inclusion of voice acting legends like Mark Hamill and Peter Cullen, who are now joined by horror icon Doug Bradley in Invincible Season 3. But perhaps the question now should be: who has turned down a role in Prime Video’s Invincible?
Invincible Season 3 has attracted an impressive list of guest stars, including Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings, Barbie), Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai, Blue Beetle), Kate Mara (House of Cards, A Teacher) and two Breaking Bad veterans; Aaron Paul and Jonathan Banks. Paul takes on the role of Powerplex, a new formidable supervillain that stands out as an emotional highlight of Invincible Season 3. While Banks’ role has not yet been revealed, fans speculate that he’s voicing one of the strongest villains in the Viltrumite Empire, Conquest. However, there is surprisingly another major Breaking Bad actor who has never joined the cast of Invincible despite being asked to join multiple times: Walter White himself, Bryan Cranston.
Bryan Cranston has Declined to Star in Invincible Multiple Times
In an exclusive DiscusingFilm interview with Invincible creator Robert Kirkman, he revealed that Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston is one of his dream castings for the show. More specifically, Kirkman confirmed that his team has reached out to Cranston for the past three seasons about a voice role in the series, almost as a tradition. Funny enough, perhaps as a tradition for Cranston, he has declined every time.
Robert Kirkman: “Sometimes an actor is brought up for a role, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, never in a million years would have I thought of that.’ That’s when it’s really exciting. As far as dream casting goes, I think we offer Bryan Cranston a role every season. That has become our tradition, and his tradition is that he turns us down (laughs). But we’re coming for you again, Bryan, and we’ll see what happens next time. Fingers crossed! Literally, Bryan Cranston is the only actor that has turned us down.”
Bryan Cranston’s Voice Acting Past
Bryan Cranston has a storied career in television, with his roles in Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle and Showtime’s Your Honor being his most popular after Breaking Bad. However, some might say his voice acting resume is relatively thin. His most famous voice acting role is in DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 4 and Kung Fu Panda 3, where he stars alongside Jack Black as Po’s biological panda father, Li Shan. Aside from that, Cranston only has Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, and his role as Jim Gordon in the Batman: Year One animated film under his belt. Of course, he also provided the voice and motion capture performance for Zordon in 2017’s Power Rangers remake.
So, it could be that Bryan Cranston is just very selective when it comes to choosing work in the voiceover booth. Not to mention how much of a busy work schedule Cranston already has in the live-action department, with upcoming roles in Seth Rogen’s new Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio and the newly-announced Malcolm in the Middle revival for Disney. Cranston choosing to decline Invincible multiple times will surely come as a disappointment to fans who were excited by the Season 3 castings of Aaron Paul and Jonathan Banks. But perhaps the two actors will be exactly the turning point that Bryan Cranston needs to begin to consider taking on a role in Prime Video’s hit animated series.
New episodes of Invincible Season 3 premiere every Thursday on Prime Video!
Created by Robert Kirkman.
Based on Invincible by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, & Ryan Ottley.
Developed by Robert Kirkman & Simon Racioppa.
Showrunner: Simon Racioppa.
Executive Producers: Robert Kirkman, Simon Racioppa, Cory Walker, David Alpert, Catherine Winder, Margaret M. Dean, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, & Helen Leigh.
Main Voice Cast: Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons, Christian Convery, Gillian Jacobs, Walton Goggins, Seth Rogen, Jason Mantzoukas, Zachary Quinto, Malese Jow, Grey Griffin, Khary Payton, Jay Pharoah, Ross Marquand, Ben Schwartz, Chris Diamantopoulos, Kevin Michael Richardson, Calista Flockhart, Zazie Beetz, Andrew Rannells, Mark Hamill, Eric Bauza, Mahershala Ali, Fred Tatasciore, Michael Dorn, Peter Cullen, Sterling K. Brown, Phil LaMarr, Tatiana Maslany, Shantel VanSanten, Clancy Brown, John DiMaggio, Simu Liu, Tzi Ma, Aaron Paul, Jonathan Banks, Doug Bradley, Kate Mara, & Xolo Maridueña.
Production Companies: Skybound North, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment, Skybound Animation, Point Grey Pictures, & Amazon MGM Studios.
Composer: John Paesano.
Episode Count: 8 (Season 3).
