Star Wars announced that Marvel star Simu Liu will appear in its next show on Disney+. Liu led Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and voiced the hero again in last year's animated Marvel Zombies, making him one of the most familiar names in the MCU. His next job takes him to a galaxy far, far away, where Lucasfilm is preparing its first new series since Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord ended its run on May 4.
Lucasfilm confirmed that Simu Liu will voice Lah Zhima in Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi, an eight-episode anime series premiering August 5 on Disney+ and Hulu. The casting appeared in the show’s official press materials, which arrived alongside the trailer first revealed at Anime Expo 2026 in Los Angeles. Liu reprises a role he first voiced in 2021, and his return adds one more Marvel name to a growing list of actors moving between the two franchises.
The Ninth Jedi launches the new Star Wars: Visions Presents banner, created by Lucasfilm to tell longer stories that began as shorts in the Star Wars: Visions anthology. Japanese animation house Production I.G produces the series, which picks up shortly after the events of two Visions shorts, The Ninth Jedi from Volume 1 and The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope from Volume 3.
The story follows Lah Kara, a young Force user training under Margrave Juro in an era when the Jedi and the Sith have all but vanished. Kara and a small fellowship of Jedi students set out to rescue her father, the sabersmith Lah Zhima, after Jedi hunters captured him. Liu’s character is central to the plot, so the actor should have far more to do here than he did in the original short.
Shunsuke Tada directs from a script by Mitsuyasu Sakai, with Kenji Kamiyama supervising the project. Much of the English dub cast returns from the earlier shorts, and four newcomers join them. Several of these actors bring Marvel credits of their own, making the series the latest meeting point between the two Disney-owned giants.
Every Marvel Actor Confirmed for an Upcoming Star Wars Project
Matt Smith
Matt Smith plays one of the central villains in Star Wars: Starfighter, Shawn Levy’s film starring Ryan Gosling, which hits theaters on May 28, 2027. The casting closes an old loop for the House of the Dragon actor, who was attached to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker before his role was cut during development.
His Marvel work came in 2022’s Morbius, where he played Milo, the childhood friend who turns on Jared Leto’s vampire. Critics savaged the Sony film, but Smith’s unhinged performance became its most memorable element. The actor has become a master at playing cunning villains, so it's no surprise he's set to go down a similar route in Star Wars.
Daniel Ings
Daniel Ings joins Smith in Starfighter in a role Lucasfilm has not yet described. The British actor is best known for The Crown and, more recently, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Marvel fans saw him in The Marvels as Ty-Rone, the Kree adviser who serves at Dar-Benn’s side and warns her about the dangers of the Quantum Bands. Dar-Benn used one of the bands to steal the resources of other planets to save her homeworld, Hala. Her refusal to heed Ty-Rone's warning about the power the cosmic artifacts held led to her demise.
Kimiko Glenn
Kimiko Glenn leads The Ninth Jedi as Lah Kara, the young hero at the heart of the story. She has voiced the character since the original 2021 short.
Her Marvel role is a fan favorite. Glenn voices Peni Parker, the anime-styled pilot of the SP//dr mech-suit, in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Andrew Kishino
Andrew Kishino returns as Margrave Juro, the mysterious Jedi guiding Kara’s training. Kishino is already a Star Wars regular, having voiced Saw Gerrera in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
On the Marvel side, he voiced Kenny "King” Kong and reporter Ned Lee in The Spectacular Spider-Man, and he more recently took on Hawkeye in the hit video game Marvel Rivals.
Patrick Seitz
Patrick Seitz voices Homen once again in the new series. The prolific dub actor is a staple of English-language anime, with credits stretching from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure to My Hero Academia.
His Marvel resume includes Thor in the anime series Marvel Future Avengers, as well as Fin Fang Foom and Butterball in the video game LEGO Marvel’s Avengers.
JP Karliak
JP Karliak returns as Gramps, a red boatman droid in The Ninth Jedi. Marvel viewers know him best as Morph in X-Men ’97, the acclaimed Disney+ revival of the beloved ’90s animated series.
His other Marvel credits include Doc Samson in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and both Vision and Baron Strucker in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled.
Feodor Chin
Feodor Chin joins the series as Gennoh, one of the four new English cast additions. His arrival creates a fun Marvel reunion, since Chin voices Wenwu, the father of Liu’s Shang-Chi, in both What If...? and Marvel Zombies.
The two actors played father and son across those animated projects, and now, they share a Star Wars series as well.
Keone Young
Keone Young voices the newcomer Kwana in the upcoming Disney+ show. The veteran character actor is no stranger to the franchise either, having played Commander Jun Sato in Star Wars Rebels and Kamahachi in the Visions Volume 1 short Akakiri.
For Marvel, he voiced Mister Negative in Ultimate Spider-Man and the Silver Samurai in Wolverine and the X-Men.
Neil Kaplan
Neil Kaplan returns as The Narrator, the voice that opens Kara’s story. Anime fans may recognize him as Madara Uchiha in Naruto Shippuden, among dozens of other roles.
Kaplan’s Marvel history reaches back to the Marvel Anime era, when he played Defense Minister Kuroda in Marvel Anime: Iron Man. He later voiced Magneto in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers.
Bonus: Mia Goth
Mia Goth takes a bonus spot on this list because her Marvel project has yet to hit theaters. The X and Pearl star joined Mahershala Ali’s Blade in 2023, though the long-delayed reboot has gone quiet and no longer holds a release date.
Her Star Wars debut is locked in, however. Goth will play one of Starfighter’s villains alongside Smith, meaning two Marvel-adjacent baddies will chase Gosling on the big screen.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
