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Credit: Marvel StudiosDisney has been forced to find a last-minute replacement after Marvel actor Simu Liu pulled out of multiple shows planned for this week.
Marvel Studios has been on shaky ground in 2023. Two of its three major releases – Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and The Marvels (2023) – have flopped at the box office, while the Disney+ series Secret Invasion became one of its worst-reviewed project ever, despite featuring fan-favorite Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Some have argued that the studio has been on the decline ever since the release of Avengers: Endgame (2019). Serving as the culmination of 11 years of superhero storytelling, this saw three staples depart from the franchise: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), and Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow).
While the climax to the Infinity Saga was epic, the problem with framing something as “endgame” is that everything that comes next feels insignificant. This has impacted several Marvel projects between 2019 and 2023, including Eternals (2021) and Black Widow (2021).
But that doesn’t mean every project has been a flop. Sequels such as Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023) have impressed both critics and audiences, while fresh outings for new superheroes such as Shang-Chi have also proven popular.
The latter’s debut, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, was praised as “a promising template for how [Marvel and Disney] can get it right again.” Much of its success was put down to its leading man, Simu Liu, who portrayed the eponymous hero and whose casting was compared to that of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark or Chris Evans as Captain America.
While already a television star prior thanks to his role of Jung Kim in the comedy series Kim’s Convenience, the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings established Liu as a blockbuster actor. He’s since appeared as one of the many Kens in the cinematic juggernaut that was Barbie (2023), with his version of the character continuously challenging Ryan Gosling’s Ken.
Having proven popular with audiences, in 2022, Disney recruited Liu for an iconic Disney World tradition: fronting the Candlelight Processional. The annual show runs at EPCOT from late November through to the end of December, recounting the Christmas story with massive choir, 50-piece orchestra, and the Voices of Liberty.
Each show is typically led by a different celebrator narrator. Liu first received the honor in 2022 when he was announced as the narrator for the first two nights of the Candlelight Processional. At the time, Liu reposted the announcement on X (then known as Twitter) with the caption “OH MY GOD I’M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD?!?!?!?!”
OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD?!?!?!?! https://t.co/yjEgAzWXRU
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) September 29, 2022
Liu was subsequently announced as a returning narrator for the 2023 holiday season as a part of EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. When the lineup was first revealed, he was scheduled to lead the show from November 30 to December 2. However, the actor has now reportedly pulled out – leaving Disney scrambling for a last-minute replacement.
The Walt Disney World website now lists Bart Millard, singer-songwriter of the band MercyMe, as the Candlelight Processional’s narrator from today (November 30) through to Sunday.
Swedish-American actress Ann-Margaret – who previously appeared in the Disney musical film Newsies (1992) – also pulled out of the show on November 29, which was set to be her second consecutive appearance at EPCOT. She was replaced by Ashley Eckstein, the actress best known for voicing Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars Forces of Destiny.
No reasons were given for Liu pulling out of the show and the actor didn’t comment on his absence on social media. Additional upcoming narrators for the show include actors and self-proclaimed Disney fanatics John Stamos and Neil Patrick Harris, Oscar-winning actor Brendan Fraser, actress Eva Longoria, This Is Us alumnus and Frozen II (2019) star Sterling K. Brown, and musician Jordan Fisher (best known among Disney fans for singing the theme tune to Magic Kingdom’s “Happily Ever After”).
Do you plan on seeing the Candlelight Processional this year? Let us know in the comments!