Patricia Heaton says Pixar 'castrated' Buzz by not casting Tim Allen in Lightyear

Everybody Loves Raymond alum Patricia Heaton is going to infinity and beyond for her fellow sitcom star and friend Tim Allen.

Having apparently just learned that Allen isn't reprising his beloved Toy Story role as Buzz Lightyear in Pixar's new movie Lightyear, Heaton took issue with the recasting on social media.

"Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting my pal Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns," she tweeted Tuesday. "Tim IS Buzz! Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?"

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney; JC Olivera/Getty Images Tim Allen and Patricia Heaton

Chris Evans voices Buzz Lightyear in Pixar's spin-off film, which technically centers on a different character than the one Allen played in the Toy Story movies: Evans' Lightyear is the interstellar action hero on whom Allen's character, a toy version of Buzz, is based. As director Angus MacLane previously told EW, "In the Toy Story universe, [Lightyear] would be like a movie that maybe Andy would have seen, that would have made him want a Buzz Lightyear figure."

As for the differences between Evans' and Allen's characters, MacLane recently told Vanity Fair, "Tim's version of Buzz is a little goofier and is a little dumber, and so he is the comic relief. In this film, Buzz is the action hero. He's serious and ambitious and funny, but not in a goofy way that would undercut the drama." He added, "Chris Evans has the gravitas and that movie-star quality that our character needed to separate him and the movie from Tim's version of the toy in Toy Story."

When fans pointed out the distinction to Heaton on Twitter, she doubled down. "Ok so the current Buzz Lightyear movie is an origin story - but the reason the character became so beloved is because of what Tim Allen created," she wrote. "Why remove the one element that makes us want to see it?" She added the hashtag "#stupidhollywooddecisions."

EW has reached out to representatives for Allen and Disney (which owns Pixar) for comment on Heaton's remarks.

Lightyear, which also features the voices of Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, James Brolin, Peter Sohn, and Uzo Aduba, hits theaters Friday.

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