Though many of you knowSteven Yeunfrom his time on AMC’sThe Walking Deadas the heroic survivor Glenn Rhee, the actor has been popping up in all sorts of unexpected places lately, namely in the realm of animation. He voices the character of Keith inVoltron Legendary Defenderand the bully Steve inTrollhunters, both from DreamWorks Animation and available to stream now on Netflix. Yeun was alsorecently announcedto be voicing the lead character in Sony Animation’s Christmas movie,The Star, a character which just so happens to be a talking donkey.
I recently had a chance to chat with Yeun about all things animation in a talk that ranged from his favorite cartoon shows as a kid, to his entry into the world of voice-acting, to his current and upcoming projects. We’ve yet to hear whether the excellentVoltronor the smash hitTrollhunterswill be renewed for a third and second season respectively, but here’s hoping Yeun and company get to continue exploring their characters and the rich mythological settings they appear in.
But before we got into his future projects, I was curious to find out where Yeun got his start in voice-acting:
Yeun: To be quite honest, I don’t know. I did some in Chicago and I would do commercials here and there. It was always really exciting. Then somehow, some way, someone let me in the door and I’ve been really lucky to do these things. I don’t know if there’s a rhyme or reason, I’m just very fortunate.
I think everybody dreams of being in an animated movie, or something like that. For me, it was always a goal and something I looked forward to hopefully being able to be a part of. For me, the enjoyment is also being able to play something I would never be cast in, so it’s been really fun to do that.
For example, not too many actors get to play the pilot of a giant robot lion who flies through space battling monsters. Yeun did, and will hopefully continue to do so as Keith inVoltron. Without going into spoiler territory, Keith discovered some pretty big truths about himself and his family in the closing episodes of the latest season. Unfortunately, Yeun couldn’t confirm nor deny that Season 3 is in the works, but he’s excited to expand on that discovery if it’s possible:
I will say, the people involved are wonderful, Joaquim [Dos Santos] and Lauren [Montgomery] are fantastic. For me, I’m more excited [to see] where they’re going to take it. Obviously with where we left off, there’s a lot more we can go to.
Fans of bothVoltronandTrollhuntersmight be pleased to know that Yeun voices two totally different characters in the two Netflix series. Here’s some insight into how he channels Keith vs the bully Steve:
You can go as far as changing up the voice and that type of thing. I don’t know that within the context of these two characters I’ve been able to explore a wild change in my voice. I know with Steve I get a little bit more guttural; the way that he speaks is very different. I think I channel two totally different people. Keith, when I voice Keith, I rarely sweat if ever. With Steve, I’m always sweating, which is kinda gross, because I just get super, super physical with the character. It’s definitely fun. It’s more of a mood choice before it is a voice choice.
There’s a fun sequence inTrollhuntersin which Steve loses a tooth and Yeun makes a bold choice in his performance that helps the character stand out. Here’s how that came about:
Rodrigo [Blaas] said, “Hey you don’t have a tooth.” And I said, [lisps] “Okay, I guess I’m just going to talk like this the whole time.” If anything, parameters like that make it a lot more fun to play because it’s limiting but at the same time liberating because you’re forced to play a thing that you might not normally do. That was a lot of fun to do that, for sure.
Though show creatorGuillermo del Tororecently confirmedthat the cast and characters of Season 1 ofTrollhunterswould be returning if a second season was ordered, Yeun wasn’t so sure what the plans were for Steve:
I don’t know. I hope we get to see more of Steve. I like Steve. I think he has a complicated history, so maybe we’ll get to see that. I don’t know.
As for Yeun’s upcoming work, he’ll voice Bo the Christmas donkey in Sony’s recently announced holiday film,The Star. Here’s how he approaches the character:
[laughs] Well, a donkey is pretty much the same on Christmas as it is on most other days. So there wasn’t anything to differentiate the Christmas part, but the donkey part, after you get over the fact that you can talk, I think that’s when you can just approach it in a surefire way. It’s fun. I’m stoked. We did the first batch of recordings, but we’ll be doing many more as we go.
Another interesting project in the pipeline isChew, an adaptation ofRob GuilloryandJohn Layman’s comic books about Cibopathic detective Tony Chu, meaning he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. Yeun voices Chu withDavid TenantandFelicia Dayalso providing voices. Here’s Yeun’s update on the project:
It’s still kind of percolating. We did a lot of the voiceover already and I think it might serve more as a tease of what could come later. I’m not sure if it’s going to be live-action or anything like that. To be quite honest, I really don’t know anything, but when I did it a while back, we just kind of laid down the voices to make the first entry into this character.Chewis a really fun comic. If you haven’t read it, the premise does sound absurd, but once you get into it, it’s actually really, really exciting and fun. Let’s hope all of these things get made!
Outside of the realm of animation:
There are a couple of projects coming this year. There’s a project that I did with director Bong Joon-ho which is calledOkja, which is incredible. I don’t want to give too much away about any of that, but that’ll be fun.
Not to get into any specifics, but we’re working on some stuff, friends of mine. We’re working on some stuff, so I suppose, be on the lookout. That’s all I can really say.
As a producer or director?
Maybe in all capacities. I’m gonna leave it super-vague like that.
As a fun closing question, I asked Yeun to revisit his childhood memories of some favorite Saturday morning cartoons. He closed with a rather poignant and timely comment on our global culture and its influences:
Snick,Doug,Garfield,Transformers(the animated movie),PepperAnn. There are some cartoons that people don’t give a fair shake or aren’t remembered in the annals of history.Recesswas a great one.
It’s cool because I feel like what’s great is that the influence of the world has unfortunately collapsed in on itself. I know there are a lot of people who don’t love the idea of the world getting smaller, but there are so many beautiful things that happen. Look at the influence of Japanese anime on American culture as we know it. I grew up with many of the Miyazaki things. I’m happy to haveVoltronafter that.
Be sure to check out Yeun’s work in bothVoltron Legendary DefenderandTrollhunterson Netflix now, and keep an eye out for his upcoming projects!
