Kieran Culkin to Voice Lead in Disney's 'Clay'
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- Walt Disney Animation Studios announced "Clay" at its Entertainment Showcase at D23 on Friday night, targeting a November 2028 theatrical release.
- Kieran Culkin will lead the voice cast as Flip, the protagonist — a self-appointed village mentor who, per chief Jared Bush, "stunk" at the job.
- The plot pairs Flip with Mushi, "a literal ball of clay born that very moment" whom Flip is assigned as his first student; Flip flees into a "fantastical forest" but finds Mushi is "inescapable and pure chaos."
- Jared Bush framed the premise as a deliberate inversion: "We have a rich history of stories that celebrate inspiring mentors and their aspirational students. So we asked: what if the next Disney mentor stunk?"
- Kieran Culkin, an Emmy winner for HBO's Succession and an Oscar winner for A Real Pain, takes his first lead voice role in a Disney animated feature.
Why it matters: With a November 2028 release date, "Clay" is Disney's longest lead-time original animated announcement, signaling long-horizon confidence in a fresh IP. Casting Culkin — a prestige-drama actor with no Disney animation track record — broadens the studio's voice pool beyond traditional animation stars. Among the other D23 announcements (Tangled live-action, Zootopia 3, Bluey Movie), "Clay" is one of the only greenlit original concepts for the big screen.
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