Orion and the Dark: Jacob Tremblay Details Voicing Orion With Colin Hanks

Now streaming on Netflix, the animated movie Orion and the Dark features a major ensemble, including some actors playing the same roles. Jacob Tremblay (Good Boys, Room) takes on the part of the titular Orion, a young boy with a major case of anxiety (especially for the dark), but the film also features another star lending their voice to the character, none other than Colin Hanks. Speaking with ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview, we asked Tremblay if the pair had a chance to work together on how they would handle the voice, since Tremblay is the young Orion and Hanks the adult version.

“Unfortunately, we never got to do anything like that,” Tremblay revealed. “I totally wish we did. But yeah I think he did a great job with the character. I think it just works so well.” Tremblay’s co-star Paul Walter Hauser, who plays the other titular character, The Dark, added, “He’s a really good actor.”

Tremblay , Hauser, and Hanks are joined in a stacked cast that also includes Angela Bassett (Malcolm X, Black Panther) as Sweet Dreams, Ike Barinholtz (Blockers, The Mindy Project) as Light, Natasia Demetriou (What We Do in the Shadows, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) as Sleep, Golda Rosheuvel (Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte) as Unexplained Noises, Nat Faxon (Disenchantment, Bad Teacher) as Insomnia, Aparna Nancherla (BoJack Horseman, Corporate) as Quiet, Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, Sin City) as Orion’s Mom, Matt Dellapina (For Life, Bull) as Orion’s Dad, Jack Fisher (You, NCIS) as Richi Panichi, and Werner Herzog (Jack Reacher, Cave of Forgotten Dreams) as The Narrator

Based on the book by Emma Yarlett and written by Charlie Kaufman, Orion and the Dark is directed by Sean Charmatz. Netflix describes Orion and the Dark as follows:

“Orion seems a lot like your average elementary school kid – shy, unassuming, harboring a secret crush. But underneath his seemingly normal exterior, Orion is a ball of adolescent anxiety, completely consumed by irrational fears of bees, dogs, the ocean, cell phone waves, murderous gutter clowns, and even falling off of a cliff. But of all his fears, the thing he’s the most afraid of is what he confronts on a nightly basis: the dark. So when the literal embodiment of his worst fear pays a visit, Dark whisks Orion away on a roller coaster ride around the world to prove there is nothing to be afraid of in the night. As the unlikely pair grows closer, Orion must decide if he can learn to accept the unknown – to stop letting fear control his life and finally embrace the joy of living.”

Orion and the Dark is now streaming on Netflix.