Regarding the Voice Actor Switch for Kairi...

[Face My Fears]

Alyson wouldn't even have been HIRED to replace Hayden if she always said yes

And Days movie ABSOLUTELY wasn't one line, and that was right after DDD, so Hayden probably got asked too. Honestly I think that was the biggest role the Kairi/Xion VA has ever had, the thing was three hours long and Xion was the second most important character

Stoner SHOULD be cast as Xion always. I don't want Hayden to be Xion.

It's understandable why Hayden's agents would say no to one-liners in a handheld game. Her asking price might have been too high and her agent turned it down. That's typical in Hollywood, especially when a star on a show gets way bigger than that show. For example, William Shatner never made an appearance in any other Star Trek TV show, but appeared ONLY in films. His agent wouldn't take the TV budget paycheck, but a film paycheck could afford him. The same situation is probably what happened with Hayden. So having Stoner as Hayden's alternative for the one-liners in the small games is fine, but not telephoning her for KH3 was just wrong and an insult.

It would have been crazy and insulting to Stoner to fire her from being Xion in the Days film, to recast her with Hayden. Stoner did phenomenal as Xion. However, I don't think she's really grasping the Kairi character/voice like Hayden did. Hayden really added some dimension to Kairi - especially when she barely had anything to work with (character wise).

 

[Chaser]

You've been asked by a moderator to show Alyson the same respect you give Hayden by not calling her by her last name. Please do so.

 

[Face My Fears]

You've been asked by a moderator to show Alyson the same respect you give Hayden by not calling her by her last name. Please do so.

It's not disrespectful. Hayden is easier to type than Panettiere and Stoner is easier to type than Alyson. But fine.

 

[Rydgea]

The simplest way to keep them both is to give them the roles they were originally cast for. Hayden as Kairi, Alyson as Xion. No new roles to generate.

Because they've always been voiced by the same actress in Japan, it's a unique problem for English-speaking audiences. However, it's one I've grown partial too. As much as a nobody is capable of (re)growing one's own heart, I feel like Alyson helped establish Xion's identity, separate from that of a Sora/Kairi hybrid.

Ideally, both actresses would be the first choice (and call) for their established, respective roles. Honestly, I want Hayden back for Kairi in KH4, though I don't think it's likely or realistic given what Hayden has divulged. But even if the two toggled roles every now and then, I would be satisfied that neither were forgotten.

 

[palizinhas]

Stoner SHOULD be cast as Xion always. I don't want Hayden to be Xion.

It's understandable why Hayden's agents would say no to one-liners in a handheld game. Her asking price might have been too high and her agent turned it down. That's typical in Hollywood, especially when a star on a show gets way bigger than that show. For example, William Shatner never made an appearance in any other Star Trek TV show, but appeared ONLY in films. His agent wouldn't take the TV budget paycheck, but a film paycheck could afford him. The same situation is probably what happened with Hayden. So having Stoner as Hayden's alternative for the one-liners in the small games is fine, but not telephoning her for KH3 was just wrong and an insult.

It would have been crazy and insulting to Stoner to fire her from being Xion in the Days film, to recast her with Hayden. Stoner did phenomenal as Xion. However, I don't think she's really grasping the Kairi character/voice like Hayden did. Hayden really added some dimension to Kairi - especially when she barely had anything to work with (character wise).

I know everyone dreams of Kairi and Xion being separated VA-wise for years, but they have always been a package deal for the production. Alyson was hired to replace Hayden as Kairi in Re:CoM, and then did Xion and KH1 Kairi redub in Days. Alyson actually has never voiced a KH game where she didn't voice Kairi - Hayden has though, DDD only had Xion with a voiced line.

 

[Rydgea]

Alyson actually has never voiced a KH game where she didn't voice Kairi - Hayden has though, DDD only had Xion with a voiced line.

Tbh, this is purely coincidental and has no bearing on why Hayden should or shouldn't continue voicing Kairi.

 

[Chaser]

I always thought Kingdom Hearts 3 would have been a good way to have Hayden voice Kairi and Alyson voice Xion. I would have liked it, and it would have been nice to have them both be included. But it didn't happen.

I want Hayden back, I'd like for her to have the chance to get a paycheque and for fans to enjoy her performance again, but at this point I just don't see them letting Alyson stand down as Kairi. That's why I suggested recasting her with a character such as Strelitzia, especially since Strelitzia is a major character for KH4. It's fan-casting too, it has no bearing on anything that will actually happen.

The simplest way to keep them both is to give them the roles they were originally cast for. Hayden as Kairi, Alyson as Xion. No new roles to generate.

Wasn't Alyson's first role in the series as Kairi for Re:CoM?

 

[Rydgea]

Wasn't Alyson's first role in the series as Kairi for Re:CoM?

When I said "originally" cast as, I meant my wish is for the first/original voice actress of the character to remain so.

 

[Chaser]

When I said "originally" cast as, I meant my wish is for the first/original voice actress of the character to remain so.

Right, gotcha.

 

[Face My Fears]

I always thought Kingdom Hearts 3 would have been a good way to have Hayden voice Kairi and Alyson voice Xion. I would have liked it, and it would have been nice to have them both be included. But it didn't happen.

I want Hayden back, I'd like for her to have the chance to get a paycheque and for fans to enjoy her performance again, but at this point I just don't see them letting Alyson stand down as Kairi. That's why I suggested recasting her with a character such as Strelitzia, especially since Strelitzia is a major character for KH4. It's fan-casting too, it has no bearing on anything that will actually happen.


Wasn't Alyson's first role in the series as Kairi for Re:CoM?

Why should Hayden be denied when Kairi is FINALLY getting attention? It's like she put in all the hard work to establish Kairi - who would be two-dimensional at best if someone else voiced her in KH1 and 2 - to have it stolen from her.

Hayden missed out on KH3, ReMIND and MoM all because of some nefarious, backdoor meeting at Square Enix with Nomura. All of those games Kairi shined and when Kairi is positioned to get even more time, she should be reduced and demoted to Strelitzia?

Just bring Hayden back as Kairi in KH4, we will forgive Square Enix for what they did to her in KH3, ReMIND and MOM, have Alyson do Xion in KH4, and hire a new person to do Strelitzia. I don't want the same person voicing multiple characters over and over again. We already have Sora/Vanitas, Kairi/Xion (UGH), and Roxas/Ven (UGHx2). Dumping the role of Strelitzia on Hayden will just make people make even more claims of "OMG she's connected to Kairi!" and maybe even cause Nomura to move in that direction. The series NEEDS to move away from clones/mysteriously connected people.

 

[Chaser]

There is no nefarious plot against Hayden. People don't have a vendetta against her.

Hayden wasn't available a lot, Alyson was. Hayden has also gone through extensive traumatic experiences during that time frame and she's still healing. Would Hayden be nice as Kairi again? Yes. Will it happen? Not likely.

You make a good point about people thinking she's connected to Kairi if she is voiced by Hayden. You're right.

 

[Face My Fears]

There is no nefarious plot against Hayden. People don't have a vendetta against her.

Hayden wasn't available a lot, Alyson was. Hayden has also gone through extensive traumatic experiences during that time frame and she's still healing. Would Hayden be nice as Kairi again? Yes. Will it happen? Not likely.

You make a good point about people thinking she's connected to Kairi if she is voiced by Hayden. You're right.

Then why no phone call? My reaction would be totally different if the Square Enix secretary or Nomura picked up the telephone and called Hayden. If she said no, then I would be totally fine with the situation.

It's not like the Square Enix CEO or Nomura thought "well Hayden is going through a lot, let's not call her". I don't even think people knew what she was going through at the time. It would have been nice for them to telephone her, at least as a sign of respect for the franchise she helped to build.

What adds to Square/Nomura burning bridges with her is that they won't be able to get her to voice Dot if they ever do A Bug's Life in KH.

 

[Chaser]

We don't know. We don't know the situation why they didn't call Hayden. We likely never will, but something you have to understand is this is all business. There's a history of reaching out to Hayden and her turning down the roles, most likely due to her schedules (she was on Nashville from 2012-2018 so she would have been relatively busy.)

I work in entertainment, and at the end of the day it comes down to what's easy and what's cheaper. We are just putting out hypotheticals about why she didn't return in the first place, and why she wasn't contacted for KH3. That's all, hypotheticals. But there's also the realistic aspect that Alyson has been the consistent voice actor for Kairi and Xion since 2017.

 

[Face My Fears]

We don't know. We don't know the situation why they didn't call Hayden. We likely never will, but something you have to understand is this is all business. There's a history of reaching out to Hayden and her turning down the roles, most likely due to her schedules (she was on Nashville from 2012-2018 so she would have been relatively busy.)

I work in entertainment, and at the end of the day it comes down to what's easy and what's cheaper. We are just putting out hypotheticals about why she didn't return in the first place, and why she wasn't contacted for KH3. That's all, hypotheticals. But there's also the realistic aspect that Alyson has been the consistent voice actor for Kairi and Xion since 2017.

Well then that's just disgusting. Just because it's cheaper to pay Haley more, then not pay Hayden at all? It's crazy to think that Hayden was the one out of everyone that they bumped from the cast list because they didn't want to pay her. They could have skipped on Mark Hamill coming back for a few lines - I'm sure that cost them a ton. Eraqus could have been silent and gotten the message across for that scene. But oh no, Hayden costs way too much, so let's not even call her.

And everyone assumed that Alyson was just the "handheld voice" for Kairi. Square Enix/Nomura never made an official statement saying that Hayden was replaced forever by Alyson. I had my hopes so high and actually just expected Hayden to come back for KH3, because that's how sequels for long-awaited media is treated. For the main cast - Sora, Riku and Kairi - it was kind of expected that everyone would come back.

I'm just pissed that no one called her. It means that no one gave a damn to even TRY to bring back the original three that started this. Regardless of if Alyson was there or not, it's just weird that there was no attempt to get the original voices for the main cast.

 

[palizinhas]

Looking back we're probably lucky there was never a conspiracy theory about Kairi and Xion having something secret relating to them that explained why they had two VAs that kept alternating between games. Sounds right up the fandom's alley

 

[kirabook]

Hayden as Strelitzia or any upcoming major female character would be awesome. I've always liked her as Kairi and was sad to see her replaced, but the deed is done.

For monetary and scheduling reasons, it makes more sense for production to have Alyson. While it would have been cool to have Hayden as Kairi and Alyson as Xion, I think we're all fooling ourselves if we think they'd be paying two different actresses for what's supposed to be the same role in the same game. That could've amounted to double the price for a role that is supposed to only have one voice.

It's not that I hate Alyson's performance either... it just... doesn't feel like Kairi. It's Xion. Urg. The people who only listen to the japanese dub have a real advantage here.

But anyway, while I don't think they'll bring her back on as Kairi, I really hope they offer Hayden a future role in the series if she wants it. It is a shame that they didn't give her a call, but at least they didn't do what Crunchyroll did to Kyle McCarley (such as ghost him and replace him in MP100 because he asked if they would meet with union reps while negotiating his non-union contract)

 

[Face My Fears]

Hayden as Strelitzia or any upcoming major female character would be awesome. I've always liked her as Kairi and was sad to see her replaced, but the deed is done.

For monetary and scheduling reasons, it makes more sense for production to have Alyson. While it would have been cool to have Hayden as Kairi and Alyson as Xion, I think we're all fooling ourselves if we think they'd be paying two different actresses for what's supposed to be the same role in the same game. That could've amounted to double the price for a role that is supposed to only have one voice.

It's not that I hate Alyson's performance either... it just... doesn't feel like Kairi. It's Xion. Urg. The people who only listen to the japanese dub have a real advantage here.

But anyway, while I don't think they'll bring her back on as Kairi, I really hope they offer Hayden a future role in the series if she wants it. It is a shame that they didn't give her a call, but at least they didn't do what Crunchyroll did to Kyle McCarley (such as ghost him and replace him in MP100 because he asked if they would meet with union reps while negotiating his non-union contract)

Is that how they will see it? Just because in the Japanese version of the game Kairi/Xion are voiced by one person, that doesn't mean the voice actor gets paid for one role, does it? That kind of makes sense since there's animated TV shows that have one voice actor doing multiple roles, but it probably sucks to do so much work and get paid one down payment.

How can they pay Alyson one fee and have her work double?

 

[BufferAqua]

It's obviously a demotion for THE Hayden Panettiere to get kicked out and fired from voicing the female lead of the KH series, to then voicing some minor character. That's like firing Keanu Reeves from playing Neo in the Matrix, then telling him that they hired someone younger to pay Neo, but they'll bring Keanu on as Bank Robber #2 or something. Total insult. It's not the same as Haley playing both Sora and Vanitas. If Hayden played Kairi and Strelitzia, that would be different.

Strelitzia seems to be a major character in KH4 and initial reactions towards her have been positive. Also, let's be real, Kairi's screen time is very, very limited. I bet most casual players of the series would barely notice that her voice actress got replaced. While, yes, she is a major character, she hasn't been impactful enough in the story compared to Sora, Riku, and even Aqua. I bet people would be way more upset if Willa Holland were replaced because Aqua has had actual character arcs that people explicitly praised her for. By your logic, wouldn't it be a demotion for Hayden to voice Kairi to begin with? Considering how Kairi has been mostly a damsel in distress with no character development besides arguably the end of MoM? Promoting Hayden to potentially more interesting female characters in the series would also do her justice, which I believe is what Chaser and Sign have been saying.

If Square/Nomura were sly enough to pull off what you said in your first statement, then that's just sick! They trick Hayden into thinking they only want her for one line in 0.2, but in reality there was a package deal of KH3/ReMIND/MoM's starring roles hidden inside? There's no way Hayden would have turned down the starring role of 2 main console games and a DLC expansion that heavily featured Kairi. Again, she said that she didn't even get a call and was upset.

You are making very vast assumptions. I don't believe Nomura has been this evil guy who intentionally screwed Hayden over. You have to understand that Hayden has genuinely gone through difficult life issues that have made her unable to return to acting. She has had an inconsistent schedule, which is why Alyson replaced her to begin with. Also, I've looked at the tweet in question. All Hayden said, and you can prove me wrong, was "No one has asked me :/" and that was it. To say that she was heartbroken and upset about it is an assumption. We don't know her true feelings on the matter or how it went down, besides some implied disappointment.

I don't see the problem with having Stoner voice Kairi for one-liners and Hayden do the main games. It's like Tom Hanks and his brother for the role of Woody.

So you don't want us "demoting" Hayden, but the way you have talked about Alyson has been pretty demeaning. She isn't just Hayden's replacement, she is a legitimate voice actress who has gone a long way. Putting Alyson on a level of where she can only act throwaway lines and replace a higher celebrity is doing exactly what you have accused people of doing with Hayden.

Who are you to say that it's baseless to claim that Hayden wasn't super invested in the series? How do you know if she cared for the series or not? The fact that someone on Hayden's level came in to do one line for a handheld game shows me that she cares. Hayden could have easily said "let the other girl do the one line, call me for the real game", but Hayden showed up.

And you have no proof that she is invested and really cares besides your repeated point of voicing one line. We don't know for sure and you are unnecessarily offended on the behalf of a celebrity whose feelings on the matter we don't explicitly know about.

 

[Rydgea]

While I do think it'd be neat courteous, I have to question the honest likelihood of finding a replacement role for Hayden. Personally, I find it even more wishful thinking than just having her back as Kairi. (1) This type of thing isn't common practice in the industry. (2) So, she plays Strelitzia for KH4, but then gets replaced with another voice actress in the non-numbered titles again, and the cycle continues?

I don't know, man.

 

[Chaser]

While I do think it'd be neat courteous, I have to question the honest likelihood of finding a replacement role for Hayden. Personally, I find it even more wishful thinking than just having her back as Kairi. (1) This type of thing isn't common practice in the industry. (2) So, she plays Strelitzia for KH4, but then gets replaced with another voice actress in the non-numbered titles again, and the cycle continues?

I don't know, man.

In my fan-casting, I was trying to find a middle ground for fans of Hayden. I was thinking that in the event that Strelitzia's main story happens in KH4 and she gets reunited with Marluxia at the end of it, then maybe that's the end of their story and it could be a nice send off to have Hayden return one last time.

I have been trying to think of precedence in voice acting in general and all I could think of is Kristen Bell leaving Central Park after season 1 due to voicing a biracial character and then returning in season 3 as the sister of the mother. That whole situation is completely different to what happened with KH though, but it was a case where someone left and then returned in another role. I am struggling to think of an example where it has happened in a game.

But just because it's not a common practise doesn't mean it can't happen. At the end of the day it was just fan casting, in an attempt to think of a compromise. I apologise to Cooper for how much that has derailed their thread.