Will Arnett was fired from the role of an iconic character due to a sponsorship deal

Will Arnett is a name that is sure to come up every time great comedians And the dubbing talents of his generation are discussed. However, his skill level doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to get the role he wants every time. Indeed, even though Arnett is a major name known for his roles as Gob Bluth in “Arrested Development” and Vernon Fenwick in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” (among many others), he missed out on playing at least one downright iconic character… though, admittedly, through no artistic fault of his own, and after having already technically played the role.

In 2008, NBC was working on a TV movie reboot of the iconic 1980s series “Knight Rider,” with future “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Sweet Magnolias” star Justin Broening replacing David Hasselhoff as the show’s central human star and Arnett voicing the series’ iteration of the talking car KITT (voiced in the original series by the “St. Elsewhere” and “Boy” star Meets World” William Daniels). Arnett had already completed his work when trouble loomed on the not-so-distant horizon: Just weeks before the air date, General Motors became aware of Arnett’s “Knight Rider” work and didn’t particularly like the fact that someone with a years-long voice-over role in their GMC Trucks commercials was now playing a talking Ford Mustang. This conflict of interest forced Arnett to leave the show.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope. While it would have been interesting to see (or rather hear) Arnett’s take on KITT, his departure from the project led to one of the most fascinating last-minute recast decisions when none other than Val Kilmer replaced Arnett as the voice of KITT.

Thanks to the conflict of interest between his “Knight Rider” vocal work and that of GMC Trucks, Will Arnett had little choice, even if he really enjoyed the KITT concert. As he said at the time (via Variety):

“I was very excited to play the role of KITT in the new ‘Knight Rider’ film. However, due to a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully step away from the project.”

Despite this career hiccup, few can say that Arnett’s voice acting career took a serious hit when he missed out on the role of KITT. He remains one of the most in-demand voices in the industry, being capable of both an iconic, expressive growl (as seen in his role as Batman in “The Lego Movie” film series) and nuanced, emotionally demanding roles (like voicing the title character in each season of Netflix’s stellar “BoJack Horseman”). He can even do co-op, providing the voice of killer clown “Twisted Metal” Sweet Tooth while professional wrestler Samoa Joe physically embodies the character. In other words, KITT might have been a good addition to his resume, but Arnett’s professional fortunes certainly didn’t depend on this role.

On the other hand, the 2008 reboot of “Knight Rider” didn’t fare as well. While the film served its purpose and spawned a new “Knight Rider” TV show (in which Kilmer continued to voice the car, but remained uncredited), the reboot series was not a huge success and ended after just one season.