Invincible quietly recast Ezra Miller, on account of the Ezra Miller of it all
Miller appeared as a mad scientist in the first season of Amazon's Invincible, but the character has been recast for the ongoing season 2
Amazon’s comic book adaptation Invincible has a lot to offer fans: A deft blend of humor and absolutely shocking animated violence; fantastic lead performances from Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, and J.K. Simmons; a whole host of guest stars and cameo performances to round out its massive superhero cast. The latter of which has elicited just a bit of controversy this week, though, as fans quickly noticed that one celebrity cameo from the show’s first season has now been quietly recast: Zombie-making mad scientist D.A. Sinclair, who was played in the show’s first outing by, uh, Ezra Miller.
Not so much in the show’s ongoing second season, though where the character—recruited by the “good guys” to make zombie soldiers for them, instead of his own evil purposes—returns very briefly, now voiced by veteran voice actor Eric Bauza. (Currently audible in a few small roles in X-Men ’97, and not audible in his capacity as a regular Looney Tunes voice actor in Warner Bros.’ eternally shelved Coyote Vs. Acme.) Amazon hasn’t directly commented on the recasting, but it’s not hard, given the career/police blotter trajectory of the last few years of Miller’s public persona, to guess why the Seth Rogen-produced series may have opted for a change, just in case.
The realization of the re-casting also serves as an odd little reminder that we, as a society, appear to have completely lost track of Miller—a prospect that would have been legitimately alarming circa 2022, when he served as a sort of pop culture boogeyman, haunting the headlines of the news cycle on a near-daily basis. But, outside a few court appearances—and a single appearance at the premiere of his superhero movie The Flash in June of 2023, as fleeting as that film’s box office run—Miller has been almost completely radio silent since late in 2022, when a rep issued a statement that he was undergoing treatment for “complex mental health issues.” He hasn’t worked since—no upcoming roles, no press events, and certainly no quick voice cameos in a fun, surprisingly brutal animated superhero show.