Disney's Live-Action Peter Pan & Wendy Casts Jim Gaffigan As Mr. Smee

Disney's live-action Peter Pan & Wendy movie has added another big-name star to its cast, according to The Wrap. Comedian Jim Gaffigan will play Mr. Smee, Captain Hook's loyal sidekick. Gaffigan joins a cast that already includes Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, Black-ish's Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell, Ever Anderson as Wendy, and Alyssa Wapanatâhk as Tiger Lily. The role of Smee was voiced by Bill Thompson in Disney's animated Peter Pan film; actor Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) played the live-action Smee to Dustin Hoffman's Captain Hook, in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated 1991 film, Hook. Jude Law has reportedly been in talks to play Captain Hook.

Peter Pan is being directed by David Lowery (Pete's Dragon), who has been expressing passion for the project since 2018:

There's a lot of expectations for a Peter Pan movie because people love it. And there's also the fact there's a lot of Peter Pan movies, and so I just want to make sure that if we make this one — I know Disney feels the same way — if we're going to make this one, let's make it right," Lowery told EW. "It has to be personal to me. It also has to be the kind of movie that people who love the original Peter Pan movie are going to love. And that's why I'm still agonizing over every little detail on it."

He continued, "You're just like constantly, saying, 'Okay, culturally what works now?' Something as simple as taking the guns out of the pirates' hands changes like a lot of beats from the classic Disney movie. I mean, Captain Hook has a lot of funny scenes with his pistol. The original Peter Pan movie's obviously horribly racist, and so that will have to go out the window. Anyway, I can go on all day about it, but my point is is that when I finish it, it will be good."

Producer Jim Whitaker built on that hype while talking to Comicbook.com:

"You know David Lowery's work. He worked on Peter Pan and I would say some of the tenets of his great work is a kind of grounded emotionality. And I think that's at least one part of what you can expect. But it'll be a big, rollicking adventure, too."

At this time, it's being speculated that Disney is teetering between a theatrical release or Disney+ streaming premiere for Peter & Wendy - and a bunch of other big films slated for 2021.