Days after Apple and Skydance Animation announced their long-standing film and TV partnership, Jane Fonda has been named as a lead voice for their upcoming animated film Luck. The award-winning actor will play The Dragon, described as “the exuberant CEO of Good Luck and undisputed luckiest ancient being in all the land…elegant, stylish and as persuasive as she is powerful.” When bad luck begins to heavily outweigh the good, Dragon must face her fears in order to keep good luck from disappearing forever. 

Luck, directed by Peggy Holmes (Secret of the Wings) and written by Kiel Murray (Cars), follows the unluckiest girl in the world on her discovery of the hidden world of luck and subsequent quest, alongside a team of helpful magical creatures, to overcome the bad with a force even greater than Luck. Could it be Love? Confidence? Faith? We’ll have to wait for the John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and David Eisenmann produced film-release to find out.

Fonda’s introduction to Luck’s cast comes after Emma Thompson’s departure from the project in 2019. Insiders deny the rumor that Fonda is Thompson’s replacement as the entire project underwent heavy storyline renovations by Lasseter, Holmes and Murray. Insiders also claim that there is an entirely new roster of characters after the story overhaul. Thompson’s withdrawal from Luck is said to be reactionary to John Lasseter’s sign-on with the Apple/Skydance production, after he resigned from Pixar due to misconduct accusations.

Skydance Media has an extensive history with Fonda due to its role as producer of the longest-running Netflix series Grace and Frankie (2015- ), in which Fonda stars alongside screen star veteran Lily Tomlin. Although Fonda’s most acclaimed works, which have earned her 2 Oscars, 7 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTA’s, 2 Tony noms, and an Emmy, are in live-action media, she also has experience in voice-acting roles. From 2016-18, she voiced Shuriki on the Disney program Elena of Avalor, and in 2014, lent her voice to the character of Maxine Lombard in an episode of The Simpsons.