Disney Officially Recasts the Voice of Winnie the Pooh

If anybody loves a reboot, it’s Disney – and if anybody hates a reboot, it’s Disney fans.

We’re currently deep in Disney’s reboot era, with everything from The Little Mermaid (1989) to Moana (2016) getting the remake treatment.

Unsurprisingly, some of its rehashed tales have gone down better with fans than others. While The Little Mermaid (2023) and Lilo & Stitch (2025) fared well with (most) audiences and critics, the likes of Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) and Snow White (2025) will go down in history as expensive duds in Disney canon.

Disney has decades worth of IP to transform into shiny, new, hopefully profitable projects. However, one source of reboot inspiration is one that’s been retold plenty of times over the years: Winnie the Pooh.

Related: R-Rated ‘Winnie the Pooh’ Series Is in the Works

Based on the children’s books by A.A. Milne, the Winnie the Pooh franchise focuses on the lovable “willy, nilly, silly, old bear.” The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh came out in 1977, with multiple feature films released in the following years, including the live-action continuation Christopher Robin (2018) starring Ewan McGregor.

One of the most recent reboots of Winnie the Pooh hit the small screen in 2023.

Playdate with Winnie the Pooh is a musical short series that premiered on Disney’s youth-oriented channel, Disney Junior, in August 2023. It features a new 3-D aesthetic for Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Kanga, and co, which has been widely panned by fans. However, fans have found another fault with the series: its new voice cast.

That’s right – Jim Cummings, who has provided the voice of Pooh since 1988 when he replaced Sterling Holloway, is out. Winnie the Pooh is instead voiced by a different, currently unnamed voice actor to represent Pooh’s younger self.

First official trailer for ‘PLAYDATE WITH WINNIE THE POOH,’ a new musical short series premiering on August 18.pic.twitter.com/V98RylVwsE

— Disney Animation Promos (@DisneyAPromos) August 11, 2023

Fans haven’t reacted too well to the change. In the words of X, formerly known as Twitter, user @Joshua_Lara101, “If it ain’t Jim Cummings, it ain’t Winnie the Pooh!”

User @ROCKETCHAIRMAN agreed, commenting, “No fair! They don’t have Jim Cummings doing Pooh’s voice! What a rip!”

Related: Here Are All of Disney’s Upcoming Live-Action Remakes

While some anticipated a voice change, others weren’t expecting something so “drastic” or for Winnie the Pooh to be “unBritishified.”

As one user pointed out, however, those criticizing the new voices aren’t exactly the target audience for Playdate with Winnie the Pooh. “People complaining about Pooh’s voice when this show is made for literal babies,” said @FunkloJunkl0. Ultimately, the show is aimed at young children – and features a younger version of the Disney character. This doesn’t necessarily mean a permanent goodbye to Jim Cummings, just a “TTFN, ta ta for now.”

What do you think about Disney’s new version of Winnie the Pooh? Let us know in the comments!