Disney is bringing back 543 iconic characters for their Once Upon a Studio Short feature film, and fans are nostalgic over Robin Williams’ Genie.

Trent Correy and Dan Abraham are the brains behind the tribute project which includes famous TV cartoon characters like Snow White, Genie, Ariel, Belle, Peter Pan, Wendy, and more. What is more surprising to viewers is that the project does not involve AI and 80% of the characters were hand-drawn for the narration.

Robin Williams’ brought back for his most beloved role – the genie

Robin Williams’ Genie was a special part of Disney’s 100-year celebration feature. The celebrity creators revealed they needed to make the legendary character a part of the story. Speaking of the process of recreating Genie on screen, producers Bradford Simonsen and Merino revealed that they had to reach out to his estate.

Simonsen explains: “We tried to take them on the journey with us to say, ‘We’ve got this very special short that we’re doing. Robin as the genie means so much to so many people and we would really love to involve him.”

To bring back life to Robin Williams’ Genie, the Disney team listened to “outtakes from the original recording” and selected clips that they could use for the feature. The original animator of Genie, Eric Goldberg, was already in the project and helped bring back the nostalgic character with the audio of Robin Williams in the feature.

Fans surprised to find out ‘it is actually him’

The nine-minute short from Disney includes all the iconic characters of the franchise. The clip is making fans emotional as fans find out that the voice used for Genie is actually of Robin Williams.

It comes after his daughter slammed the use of AI that was creating new photos and videos of the star. His daughter Zelda said she found it “disturbing” when she’d see these online.

Luckily, the family estate approved the use of old clips. As it was actually Robin acting, it’s his true likeliness and nature – as well as his talent – shining through.

Gushing over the touching tribute, a fan shared on X (formerly Twitter): “You have NO idea how happy I was to hear the late Robin Williams as the Genie again! They could’ve gone the easy route and have Dan Castellaneta or Jim Meskimen voice him, but no, Disney got permission from Williams’ estate to use unused recordings instead. They truly care.”

“It’s like Robin Williams descended from Heaven to play the Genie one last time. It really is beautiful. Rest in peace, Mr. Williams,” another emotional fan said.

Robin Williams was ‘that’ friend in need for many, as a third fan posted: “Hearing those unreleased Robin Williams as the Genie lines last night on the Disney 100 Special really got us in the feels. We truly never had a friend like him!”

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