Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista Says Marvel Studios Didn’t Ask Him to Voice Drax in What If…?

While Drax the Destroyer is going to appear in Marvel’s What If…?, the character won’t be voiced by his live-action counterpart. Over the weekend, Disney released the majority of Marvel Studios actors returning to the show to voice the same animated characters they play in live-action, and Dave Bautista wasn’t on the list. Since the actor was among the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Brie Larson omitted from the list, and fans were curious why the actor chose not to participate.

According to Bautista, it wasn’t a matter of him not wanting to take part. Rather, Marvel Studios simply didn’t ask him to participate. Bautista made the shocking revelation while quote-tweeting a fan curious as to why his voice was going to be absent from What If…?.

“Let’s start with I was never asked,” the Guardians of the Galaxy megastar replied.

Speaking exclusively with ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis, What If…? producer Brad Winderbaum explained the recasting process for those characters who wouldn’t be played by their live-action counterparts.

“One early decision was we were not going to let the show be defined by the actors we thought we could get,” Winderbaum told us. “Part of the fun of What If…? is being able to tell stories in any corner of the universe you want to and that means that you need that infinite canvas, you need that infinite potential. Also, I was afraid we wouldn’t get any actors to come back. The fact that we got as many as we did, 85% of the actors came back or something like that. It’s incredible and it’s a real honor and privilege to work with all of them.” Among the returning actors is the late Chadwick Boseman, who recorded four episodes of What If…? for his T’Challa character.

Marvel’s What If…? is set for release on Disney+ beginning August 11th.

What What If… storylines do you hope to see in the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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