Nintendo revealed back in August that longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet would no longer voice Mario. It announced that he would instead work for Nintendo as Mario Ambassador and also does not voice the character in the upcoming game.
This sparked speculations and discussions about a new voice actor and who could it be. After months of rumors and guesses, the new voice actor for Mario has been announced, and it is Genshin Impact voice actor Kevin Afghani.
New Mario Voice Actor Has Been Revealed
Nintendo had kept the new voice actor secret close to their chests and said that they would reveal the actor in the credits of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The company has now confirmed that Kevin Afghani is the new voice of the plumber. Afghani also announced on X, formerly Twitter saying,
Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an upcoming platforming game that will launch on Nintendo Switch this October 20 and Afghani will be playing the role of plumber. There was speculation on two names, Afghani and Mick Wingert to voice the character. The rumors started after a list of voice actors surfaced which had the last name of all voice actors in the game.
However, the list did not mention what roles each actor played most people thought it would be either Kevin Afghani or Mick Wingert. The similarities in Afghani and the Talking Flower’s voices also sparked rumors that Wingert would voice the character but Wingert’s agent later denied and it’s now confirmed that Afghani is voicing both Mario and his brother, Luigi.
Although Kevin Afghani has popular titles in his voice acting portfolio such as the role of Raditz in Dragon Ball R&R and Arnold, an event-exclusive NPC in Genshin Impact, he has never appeared in a Mario game before. According to Afghani’s bio on his website, he has pursued a career in voice acting only because of his “absolute love for animation and video games.” His bio further reads,
They are some of the most genuinely exciting forms of art that I have ever seen. Characters that exist only within the context of their media allow this art to transform into a beautifully immersive experience like no other. Whether that experience is fun, bubbly, dark, or moving, this art form is truly amazing and I absolutely had to become a part of it.
One of the main reasons behind Mick Wingert’s consideration for the role, at least for fans, was his vast number of voice-acting stints in popular games such as Diablo 4, Dead Island 2, Diablo Immortal, Deadcraft, Spider-Man: Miles Morales as well as the recently released Starfield. Wingert has also lent his voice to characters in Marvel’s What if…? and Arcane.
It has not been revealed if Wingert is playing a character or not but it would not be a surprise if the actor is also seen in the squad. Nintendo has also not commented if Kevin Afghani will be voicing characters in the next games of the franchise or not but it will be worth waiting to see if he continues in Super Mario RPG.
Why Isn’t Martinet Voicing Mario Anymore?
Nintendo had announced that Charles Martinet will no longer voice the character and will move on to the role of Ambassador of the character and travel the world sharing its joy. However, it was not revealed why Martinet isn’t voicing the character. Martinet had voiced the iconic character for over 25 years since 1996.
It could be that Martinet himself would have wanted to move on from the character but that’s unlikely as he’s got a new role already. It could also be that Nintendo wanted to explore something new with the voice of the character. However, as that mystery remains to be solved, there is already a new voice actor in the face of Kevin Afghani.
In Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Mario would leave the Mushroom Kingdom and go on an adventurous journey to save another world with popular characters like Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Toadette, Nabbit, Princess Daisy, joining the series as a playable character for the first time, and Yoshi.
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