New ‘The Good Dinosaur’ voice cast announced

The voice cast for Pixar’s upcoming “The Good Dinosaur” was announced Friday and looks as if there were a few changes along the way.

The Peter Sohn-directed “The Good Dinosaur” ponders the question: What if the asteroid that led to the extinction of dinosaurs millions of years ago had missed Earth?

This near-miss sets up a world where an apatosaurus named Arlo befriends a human named Spot.

Actor Raymond Ochoa (of “The Night Shift” and “Rizzoli & Isles”) provides the voice of Arlo, with Jack Bright (“Monsters University”) voicing Spot.

The announced cast also includes Jeffrey Wright (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” Parts 1 and 2) as Arlo’s father, Poppa; Steve Zahn (“Captain Fantastic,” “Ridiculous Six”) as a pterodactyl named Thunderclap; AJ Buckley (“Murder in the First,” “Justified”) as a T-Rex named Nash; Anna Paquin (“True Blood”) as a T-Rex named Ramsey; Sam Elliott (“Justified”) as a T-Rex named Butch; Frances McDormand (“Olive Kitteridge,” “Fargo”) as Arlo’s mother, Momma; and Marcus Shribner (“black-ish”) as Arlo’s brother Buck.

Noticeably missing from the cast is John Lithgow, who was initially set to play Poppa. A number of other roles also seem to have been re-cast.

“We were lucky to work with a number of incredible pros along the way, and our story ultimately led us to this amazing and talented group,” Sohn said in a release. “The Good Dinosaur” will be his first time directing a feature film.

The cast, of course, is not the only thing to change along the way for “The Good Dinosaur.” Sohn took over as director after Pixar removed the initial director, Bob Peterson, from the project in 2013.

“The Good Dinosaur” will open in theaters on Nov. 25.

I tweet about dinosaurs: @tracycbrown