The new Mario voice actor has officially been revealed

It’s official: we have a new voice actor for Mario! And no, it isn’t Chris Pratt. Rumors swirled about who might take up the Italian plumber’s big shoes after longtime voice Charles Martinet announced his departure from the role. Well, it’s now confirmed that Mario, as well as Luigi, will be played by voice actor Kevin Afghani in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It’s unknown if he will play the role in future titles.

This news comes a week before the highly-anticipated release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which will now mark Kevin’s first appearance as the beloved icon. Nintendo themselves, as reported by The Verge, confirmed his role in an email sent out to them. The reveal of Mario and Luigi’s new voice lines up with Doug Bowser (not that Bowser) saying the actor would be revealed towards release. It also comes a day after data-miners, according to Kotaku, managed to find the cast list through demos available at various Target locations.

In terms of Kevin Afghani’s work, he hasn’t done too much. His biggest role on IMDb lists Arnold in Genshin Impact. He’s also done some YouTube skits for the video-game-based animation channel MASHED. It’s a very impressive feat for someone to become the next face of Mario early in their career. I can speak for a lot of people when I say that we can’t wait to see what Kevin can do and wish him the best.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder releases on Nintendo Switch on October 20.