Inside Out 2 has arrived onto the 2024 movies schedule, and in classic Pixar fashion, the cast is spectacular. Of course, our beloved crew of emotions is still led by Amy Poehler’s Joy, but joining her this time around are big names like Maya Hawke, Tony Hale and Paul Walter Hauser, the latter playing Embarrassment. Hauser is a man of few words in the film, but his character has a lovely arc, and as someone who is now embedded in the Pixar/Inside Out universe, he’s already throwing around casting ideas for the third installment.
Director Kelsey Mann has been teasing a third Inside Out film, so it’s not too crazy that we're already speculating. When fan-casting with Paul Walter Hauser during my interviews for Inside Out 2, he had a great pitch as to how they’d bring on his RIchard Jewel costar Jon Hamm:
I said I wanted Jon Hamm to voice competition, or a competitive nature. He's that dude. He's a real player. He can be thrown in anything. I also said Marc Maron would be a fun voice, there.
I’m not sure if competition is an emotion, but I definitely see where Hauser is going with this. If you watched any of Jon Hamm’s legendary, award-winning run on Mad Men, you know that his effortless charisma would make for a hilariously cocky and competitive little character taking the controls in Riley’s mind. Paul Walter Hauser also dropped the name of Jon Hamm’s friend Marc Maron, but I think that Lewis Black is already sufficiently filling the role of the lovable curmudgeon with his character, Anger.
Speaking of Lewis Black, he was also present during the interview, and he had a very different, on-brand take when it came to the hypothetical casting of Inside Out 3:
I'd like to cut the squad down so that there's a better paycheck. But that's really just outright greed.
That dude is hilarious, and both of them are delightful, as you can see in the video clip at the top of this article.
It’s probably worth noting that only three days after the film’s release, we here at CinemaBlend seem to be giving Inside Out 2 a resounding nod of approval. We’re already writing about easter eggs on the rewatch, boldly claiming that it’s a story about mental health that “everyone needs to see,” and our official Inside Out 2 review gave it a near-perfect 4.5/5 stars. And as you see here, we’re already speculating about Inside Out 3, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another ten years.
If we do have to wait another decade, we can trust that Jon Hamm will be staying competitive, as he’s not showing any signs of slowing down. He recently starred in the latest seasons of Fargo and The Morning Show, and will be taking on the leading role of Apple TV+’s upcoming showYour Friends and Neighbors.
If you haven’t seen Inside Out 2, head to your local theater right now! If you have seen it, go see it again! For all the latest and greatest updates in movies, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
