Disney Casts Tessa Thompson to Voice Lady in ‘Lady and the Tramp’
Disney’s live-action Lady and the Tramp has found its leading…well, lady. Thor: Ragnarok’s Tessa Thompson has been voice-cast to star as Lady, the adorably bashful cocker spaniel in the upcoming reimagining of the 1955 animated classic. She will be joining The Leftovers’ Justin Theroux who was announced last month to be voicing Tramp.
For those who have been living under a Disney rock their entire lives, Lady and the Tramp follows Lady, a sheltered Cocker Spaniel, who meets a streetwise downtown mutt named Tramp. Along with a crew of other hilarious sidekicks, the two wildly different dogs begin to fall in love. I mean, we all know the iconic scene.
Doctor Strange’s Benedict Wong has been cast to voice the English bulldog named Bull and Catastrophe’s Ashley Jensen lending her voice to one of Lady’s best friends, a Scottish Terrier named Jackie. In the original film, this character was a male dog named Jock and was voiced by Larry Roberts. The live action/CGI hybrid film will be directed by The Lego Ninjago Movie’s Charlie Bean and written by Andrew Bujalski. It will be produced by Brighman Taylor.
What makes Lady and the Tramp different than recent Disney live-action adaptions such as Mulan and Dumbo is that it will only premiere on Disney’s upcoming streaming service and will not be released in theaters. The streaming service, which is expected to be worth over $25 billion, will house a comprehensive library of Disney classics, as well as new original series and movies made specifically for the platform, including Lady and the Tramp.
Thompson is currently starring in Sorry to Bother You, which is in theaters now. She will soon reunite with her Thor: Ragnarok co-star Chris Hemsworth in the upcoming untitled Men in Black spinoff and will reprise her role as Bianca in Creed II with Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan. On the small screen, she has appeared in seasons one and two of Westworld as Charlotte Hale and recently guest starred on two episodes of Netflix’s Dear White People.
Lady and the Tramp currently does not have a release date.
Having studied Media & Writing at James Madison University, I always knew that I wanted to do some type of creative writing, but being able to write about zombies, Starks, and superheroes on a daily basis for Fan Fest is my actual dream. While I probably shouldn’t be as proud as I am to be so similar to Nick Miller, I do hope to one day write my own “Pepperwood Chronicles’.