Solo Leveling English Dub Jinwoo Star Aleks Le Talks -ReAwakening- and Season 2

Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- is opening its gates in cinemas across North America this weekend with its December 6th release, and we got to speak with voice acting superstar Aleks Le to discuss his work as Sung Jinwoo on the series. With Solo Leveling being the biggest new hit of Winter 2024’s anime slate, and with its feature film recapping Season 1 with a preview of Season 2’s first two episodes, the anime bookends a stellar year for the actor. We’re truly excited for fans to see Jinwoo continue his growth as a Necromancer-turned-Shadow Monarch with what lies ahead.

As fans will soon be able to see either the English subbed or dubbed version of Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- in theaters, ComicBook recently got the opportunity, courtesy of Crunchyroll, to sit down and chat with Aleks Le about the hit manhwa adaptation. We got to speak about his prolific resume, his cats Miso and Bean, and most importantly, the plethora of amazing experiences had and created in the recording booth in advance of Solo Leveling Season 2.

ComicBook: With you having recovered your voice after a recent strain in the line of duty while preparing for Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- coming this weekend, how are you feeling since then?

Aleks Le: I’m feeling good. Usually, I don’t expect this time of the year to be so busy, but it turns out that everything is happening this winter season, which is exciting for myself and anime fans alike because there are so many good things out there, and I’m very honored to have the movie coming out in theaters. It’s super cool because I haven’t had a chance to do a winter event like this before, so it’s a nice opportunity to take my friends to see a movie.

You started the year with Solo Leveling being the event release of the year with winter 2024, and now you get to close out the year with that too.

That’s true; it’s been a crazy year. It’s felt longer than a year, that’s for sure.

With Jinwoo in particular, what challenges would you say you have found when playing the role?

I think the first season had a lot of challenges where, for the first season of anything, you have a lot to set up, so we had many different hurdles to overcome. Caitlin Glass is the ADR director, and it was our first time working together. We had to find a way to work together, which was not challenging. We had to find a way to work together, we hit it off, she’s a really creative and amazing director. I couldn’t have asked for anybody better to be my partner in this.

There’s a ton of challenges. We had to set the tone of the show and Jinwoo’s multiple voice transitions, but one of the toughest challenges that I had with the show and not with many others is that I actually had the privilege of doing a lot of the dialogue for Jinwoo in the show, as in writing and crafting them. We were working off a really great ADR script by our talented ADR writer, but Caitlin actually gave me the freedom to change, improvise, and heavily edit a lot of the moments specifically focused on Jinwoo because she wanted the performance to be as natural and authentic to me as possible, which I was very grateful for.

So, a lot of the speeches you hear in the show, a lot of the dialogue, and his one-liners, I was really lucky to get the chance to write those myself. It’s a different feeling because when you’re performing, you’re like, “Oh, that’s my voice!” But it’s a different feeling when I wrote that, and now it’s being said by me in the show. It’s a really cool process.

Being as involved as possible in the project is all the more exciting. You mentioned the changing voices for Jinwoo as he undergoes further developments to become a Necromancer and even greater classes, and how it sounds even in the film. What can fans expect on the “Giga-Chad” meter going into the movie and Season 2?

For one, it’s a lot easier for me to settle into something like that rather than to pitch him up because the challenge with doing a younger, more innocent-sounding voice is that it’s just so hard when you’re so jaded — I’m kidding — but the challenge is that there’s a fine line between a natural young-sounding voice and an anime-esque young voice, and we wanted the show to just sound as natural as possible. For me, it takes a little bit of time to settle into the perfect pitch, and then I also need to say certain words not to sound too cartoony whenever I’m in my higher register. The place we’re at right now is comfortable, and I’ve been really happy with how the work we’re doing is coming out because he has some cool moments where his voice is even deeper and has this sort of shadowy feel to it. There are lore-related reasons for that we can get to down the line, but right now, it’s cool to give the audience a tease of where we’re going with it.

Given Solo Leveling‘s webtoon being cited at over 14 billion views, drawing more attention to webtoons and manhwa, have you checked out any additional series you’d recommend?

I used to read a lot. I read so much manhwa and manga back in the day four or so years ago, but it’s been really hard to find time to properly sit down and dedicate myself to certain series. I read a lot of manhwa back then, but nowadays, I’ve noticed that many of them were getting localized by publications with different names from what I’m familiar with. I did read a lot of action series that were really cool, but I was never too particularly drawn to the fantasy genre until recently. But back then, it was a lot more action, street-fighting-type series like that. It’s a well-done medium, and I’m super happy to see it getting more flowers via anime adaptations and enjoyment across the board.

Like more obscure favorites like Rooftop Sword Master versus bigger ones like Omniscient Reader or Jungle Juice.

Oh, I’ve heard about those.

How much had you read or known of Solo Leveling before getting the part?

Before getting the part, I knew a pretty good chunk about it. I was aware of the first four or so volumes for where the story was going, but I didn’t read deeper than that. I have a friend who is a huge fan of it, so my knowledge mostly came from them and their excitement for it. I knew it was going to be a big deal because every voice actor around me was telling me, “This is the next big thing!” This and that, but as an actor who auditions for many roles, and I regularly don’t get many, many roles as well, I can’t be too attached to these things. When everybody is hyping it up, I gotta say, “Oh, that’s cool!” I saw all the promotions for Solo Leveling at the Crunchyroll booth and Anime Expo, but in my head, I wasn’t like, “I need this character.” I hoped for the best for the show and walked past. That’s just the business of being an actor, at least.

With what we know about Solo Leveling going into the second season, do you have any particular favorite characters?

I’m excited for them to show off more of Cha Hae-in. She’s personally a favorite, and I love her design. I think she’s hilarious in her demeanor and interaction with everybody around her. I’m excited for her and love Michelle Rojas, who plays her, so I’m super excited for her to get her screen time. I’ve seen some of her stills from the trailers, and they’re not holding off. They’re going all-out animating her, because she looks amazing in those shots, I’m stoked for that.

Who is your favorite Shadow so far?

Ooh, so far? From the ones we have, I gotta say, even with future Shadows, I still really love Igris based on the design alone. His introduction was super cool and very memorable for me. Even though there are many more cool Shadows to come, he feels like an OG to me.

For lucky fans going in to see Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- in cinemas this weekend, do you have any special message for those attending the English dub?

Thank you for your support! I’ve noticed this show has taken off quite a bit at least for the dub viewership, and that means a lot because we put a lot of effort into it. Just to see so many people excited for the dub is making me really happy. In general, for anybody who goes to see it whether in subbed or dubbed, I hope you have a good time, because from what I saw of it, I only saw a good chunk of it, it looks really good. I hope that the theater experience will enhance it and make it something memorable for you all.

You can follow Aleks’ work on his X (formerly Twitter), his YouTube, and his Instagram accounts for the latest updates.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact J.R. directly on X.

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Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- hits theaters in North America on December 6th.