The sixth installment in the popular Ice Age franchise arrives on Disney+ soon. And it brings with it the return of a fan-favorite character: Buck Wild.
The adventure-loving weasel first appeared in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs back in 2009. Now, he’s starring in his own film, Adventures of Buck Wild.
Reprising his role as the voice of Buck is Simon Pegg, who said during a press conference for the film that he’s wanted a spotlight on Buck from the beginning.
“I’ve been dropping hints about this for 12 years,” he joked.
Adventures of Buck Wild sees opossum brothers Crash and Eddie break away from the herd and stumble back into the Lost World. There, they reunite with Buck and devise a plan to stop the dinosaurs from taking over. Helping them out is a new character and an old friend of Buck’s: a zorilla named Zee (voiced by Justina Machado).
“It was lovely to see a new story coming to life and see this character in new environments,” said Pegg. “I remember when they first showed me the picture of Zee, because it was really exciting because it’s like another Buck. I know she’s a zorilla, but she’s totally his equal and a sort of counterpart to him in so many brilliant ways. And just getting excited about, oh, he’s got a partner and it just felt like all the possibilities that have eventually now come to fruition felt very possible.”
(And as producer Lori Forte pointed out, it’s nice to see Buck interact with something other than inanimate objects.)
Pegg added that he believes the characters from the franchise really resonate with people, and that movies like Adventures of Buck Wild are a great opportunity to showcase those characters in new and exciting ways.
“The great thing is that the Ice Age story has so many fabulous characters in it. This is the era of the cinematic universe. I don’t think there is another animation which is more suited to expansion,” said Pegg. “There are so many wonderful characters and in a movie you can only spend so much time with each one. So this is a lovely way to give over some time to not only Buck and Crash and Eddie, but also Zee and these new characters, which are welcome additions to this fabulous group.”
Finally, Pegg revealed why Buck remains such a special role for him after all these years.
“Buck’s very much in my muscle memory now, because I’ve played him a few times… I have a very strong affection for him, not least because he was born the same year my daughter was born. So the first time I played Buck was the year my kid was born and she’s grown up with those movies and with him. And weirdly as this new Ice Age installment comes out, my sister just gave birth this week. So there’s a new Ice Age baby to take the stories forward. So, it’s nothing but a joy to play Buck because it has all this kind of emotional resonance for me personally in my own family.”
You can stream Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild on Disney+ starting January 28.
