The long-running animated comedy The Simpsons have announced a new voice actor in Alex Désert (Better Things, The Flash) to portray Homer Simpson’s friend and coworker, Carl, according to Deadline. Previously voiced by Hank Azaria (Brockmire, Tuesdays with Morrie), Carl’s character found a new voice following the announcement by Fox that white actors portraying non-white characters in the series will have to be replaced for those specific roles.
Azaria has voiced Carl Carlson, who is a black co-worker of Homer at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, since the character’s inception. Additionally, Azaria has also voiced the Indian Kwik e Mart owner and cashier Apu since his incarnation as well. Azaria, around the time of the death of George Floyd and in congruence with Fox’s decision, announced that he was stepping away from these two voice roles on the long-running animated series.
This will not be the first instance of Désert interacting with an animated series as he has provided voice acting efforts on series such as Mr. Pickles in addition to voicing Nick Fury, the man in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., on the Marvel animated series The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
The long-running Fox animated series The Simpsons is set to debut its 32nd season premiere episode, “Undercover Burns,” on September 27. For longtime fans of The Simpsons, the series is available to stream on Disney+.