Studiopolis, commented on it recasting Yoruichi in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. It stated it is due to an error the casting coordinator made when they mistakenly thought that her original voice actress Wendee Lee was unavailable. [Thanks, ANN!]
The American post-production and dubbing studio Studiopolis explained the situation in further detail to Anime News Network. Essentially, Studiopolis had always intended to keep as many of the original Bleach cast members as possible when dubbing Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. It thought that Wendee Lee could not make the recordings and went on to cast Anairis Quiñones. At this point, Quiñones had already recorded several episodes’ worth of lines. This is in line with some of Lee’s comments on social media regarding the situation. Quiñones is still in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War as Hiyori.
Quiñones originally announced that she is no longer playing Yoruichi on October 21, 2023. At the time, she did not give any details as to why Studiopolis recast her as Yoruichi in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. The situation grew out of hand when several voice actors reacted with sympathy to Quiñones’s Tweet. Many on Twitter may have seen some of Lee’s replies to those comments, with Lee expressing disappointment that people supported Quiñones. Lee has since deleted the majority of these replies.
Lee has since apologized to Quiñones privately. However, Quiñones stated on Twitter on October 23, 2023 that she has not responded yet to Lee’s apology. She also stated that Lee needs to apologize to voice actors such as Faye Mata, Daman Mills, and Jenny Yokobori. These were some of the voice actors who expressed their support for Quiñones.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is available on Disney+. Viz Media handles the manga outside Japan.
