Billy Dee Williams sweet velvet tones have joined the cast
Our ears are about to be really blessed with two new cast members joining Pocket Universe Productions’ John Carter of Mars: The Audio Series. Legendary actor Billy Dee Williams has joined the cast as Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, opposite Wasé Chief as his granddaughter, Dejah Thoris.
We all have memories of the first time seeing Mr. Williams (mine was Mahogany, one of my grandparents’ favorite films), but his talent has kept him busy in front of the camera, on the stage, VO for over seven decades. He’s been working in the entertainment field since his debut on Broadway at seven years old. But when he joined the cast of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as the beloved swashbuckling rogue Lando Calrissian that’s when he crossed genres and made generations of lifelong fans. Listeners of the series will learn further details of his episodes in the coming months.
“Billy brings a true majesty to the role as a Martian warrior-king. He is authoritative and regal, yet he can also shift his tone at a moment’s notice to being the kind and wise grandfather of Princess Dejah Thoris. There are scenes he performs that moved us all to tears in the studio. Billy does it all with his voice.”
Michael Kogge, writer and director of the audio series
Saturn Award-winning actress Clare Kramer voices Gozava, mother of the Thark rebel Sola. Kramer is best known as Glory in season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a performance TV Guide ranked among television’s best villains, and as Courtney Egbert in Bring It On. She also co-produced the boxing documentary Tyson, which premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Kramer is also an established voice in genre media, having moderated convention panels internationally and worked as a correspondent for CNN, Access Hollywood, and E! News, interviewing pop-culture icons such as William Shatner and Stan Lee. She can currently be heard in the first season of the audio fiction podcast Elfquest, adapted from Richard and Wendy Pini’s comic series.
“Clare is a marvelous performer and person to boot. To have her in John Carter of Mars is nothing short of a privilege. She brings out the soulful side of the otherwise brutal Thark.”
Lance Roger Axt, the head of Pocket Universe
About John Carter of Mars: The Audio Series
Produced by Pocket Universe Productions and authorized by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., John Carter of Mars®: The Audio Series is the first multi-cast dramatic audio adaptation of the science fiction novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the legendary creator of Tarzan®.
The series stars Sean Patrick Flanery of Young Indiana Jones and The Boondock Saints in the title role, and co-stars Wasé Chief (Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga), Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager), Alisha Mullally (13 Reasons Why), Ray Porter (Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Katy Manning (Doctor Who), Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5, TRON), Ian McDiarmid (the Star Wars saga), and Billy Dee Williams. More information can be found at www.johncarterrises.com.
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