★ THE VOICES OF THIRD EARTH
One actor voiced both Lion-O's mentor and his archenemy. Another voiced four characters, hero and villain alike. And when Rankin/Bass built two more cartoons on the same New York stage, three of this cast followed their characters into the sky, twice. Eight profiles, cross-checked against Wikipedia, IMDb and the site's own long-running voice actors feature.
★ THE MULTI-CHARACTER CAST
A tight New York ensemble covered the entire regular cast. Most of them did double duty, hero and villain both.
From Snarf and Slithe to Lynx-O, Grune, Captain Bragg and dozens more, McFadden voiced forty roles across ThunderCats and SilverHawks - more than anyone.
Between them, eight actors recorded every named character across all 130 episodes - heroes, Mutants, Lunataks and one-off guests, 119 roles in total.
Tygra, WilyKat, Bengali, Monkian and twenty-one more across ThunderCats and SilverHawks - hero and villain, from the same actor.
★ THE ORIGINAL 1985 CAST · THE HEART OF THUNDERCATS
The tight New York ensemble that created the ThunderCats. Tap any actor for the characters they play, a bio, their other famous roles, their SilverHawks and TigerSharks crossovers, and more photos.
★ AND, 26 YEARS LATER
Cartoon Network rebuilt ThunderCats in 2011 with a bigger, starrier ensemble - and one deliberate nod: the original Lion-O returned as Lion-O's father. Tap any actor for their reboot character and more.
★ ON THE CONVENTION FLOOR
The cast never really left. Four decades of convention panels, reunion stages, signing tables and photo ops with the fans. Tap any photo to enlarge. (Portraits of each actor live on their cards above.)
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Flickr (Gage Skidmore, Super Festivals, GalaxyCon, Pop Culture Geek), the Carl Van Vechten collection at the Library of Congress, the Rankin/Bass archive (Rick Goldschmidt) and convention press, rehosted on the site's own R2 and credited per image. No AI-generated imagery.
★ ONE STABLE, THREE SKIES
Rankin/Bass followed ThunderCats with two more animated series built on the same recording stage: SilverHawks in 1986, then TigerSharks in 1987. Both leaned hard on actors the studio already knew could carry a lead. Five of the eight ThunderCats actors crossed over to SilverHawks. Three of them, Larry Kenney, Earl Hammond and Peter Newman, went all the way into a third show entirely.
1985-1989 · 130 episodes
1986 · 65 episodes
1987 · 26 episodes
★ THE CAST ON CAMERA
The people behind Lion-O, Tygra, Cheetara and Panthro, in their own words. Press any clip to play. Videos are embedded from their original channels; nothing is rehosted.
The marquee reunion. Larry Kenney (Lion-O) and Peter Newman (Tygra) sit down together for the first time in four decades, with a surprise drop-in from SilverHawks’ Maggie Wheeler. From Beyond Thundera, hosted by Sean “Buddha” McKeone, author of Hall of Omens, and original ThunderCats showrunner Peter Lawrence.
In partnership with
Beyond Thundera
Hosted by Sean "Buddha" McKeone, author of Hall of Omens, and original ThunderCats writer and showrunner Peter Lawrence, the Beyond Thundera podcast digs into the secrets and stories behind ThunderCats, SilverHawks and TigerSharks with the people who made them.
The musician and sound designer who also voiced SilverHawks’ Copper Kidd, on building the sonic world of the Rankin/Bass shows.
Larry Kenney, Peter Newman and Lynne Lipton together on stage for a career-spanning ThunderCats and SilverHawks audience Q&A.
The original cast reminisce about the recording booth, their auditions and four decades of fandom.
A rare solo sit-down with the actress who voiced Cheetara and nearly every female character in season one.
The Broadway veteran on joining the cast in season two as Pumyra and the icy Lunatak Chilla.
Tygra himself on originating four ThunderCats characters and a lifetime at the microphone.
The Cosby Show and Shakespearean stage actor on the role of Panthro, in one of his last recorded interviews.
Behind-the-scenes footage of the final ThunderCats recording session, posted by engineer Larry Franke.
Voice actors and writers reunion panel from Power-Con 2013, featuring Larry Kenney, Lynne Lipton, Peter Newman, and a roster of the show’s writers.
★ 2011 & BEYOND
A few more corners of the ThunderCats voice story.
Also in the 2011 ensemble: Madeleine Hall as WilyKit, Eamon Pirruccello as WilyKat, and, in a memorable piece of casting, Japanese voice actress Satomi Korogi (Pikachu) as Snarf.
From the drawing board to the mic
Jim Meskimen worked on ThunderCats as a young artist, then went on to become one of Hollywood's best-known voice actors and impressionists. He returned to the fold on Beyond Thundera to talk about that unlikely path from the art table to the recording booth.
ThunderCats Roar (2020) - Larry Kenney, the original Lion-O, returned once more to voice Jaga in this broadly comedic reboot.
The Warner Bros. Pictures Animation feature (announced 22 June 2026) - no voice cast has been announced yet. Read the full announcement →
★ IN MEMORIAM
Three of the eight original cast members are no longer with us. Their voices carry Third Earth still.
Panthro · 1926 - 2017
Emmy-nominated stage and screen actor and Shakespearean, and the resident voice of Panthro; passed at the Lillian Booth Actors Home, aged 91.
Mumm-Ra & Jaga · 1921 - 2002
A seven-decade radio, television and voice career; both the terrifying Ever-Living and the wise mentor Jaga.
Snarf & S-S-Slithe · 1923 - 2000
One of the most prolific American voice and commercial actors of his generation, and the heart of the show’s comic relief.
★ FREQUENTLY ASKED
Larry Kenney, across the full 130-episode run. He also voiced the cowardly Mutant Jackalman on the same show.
Earl Hammond, who also voiced Lion-O’s wise mentor Jaga - two characters that could not have been more different, from the same actor.
Yes. Five of the eight actors profiled here crossed over to SilverHawks (1986): Larry Kenney, Earl Hammond, Peter Newman, Bob McFadden and Doug Preis. Three of them, Kenney, Hammond and Newman, went on to a third show, TigerSharks (1987), as well.
Bob McFadden - around forty roles across ThunderCats and SilverHawks, from Snarf and Slithe to Lynx-O, Grune, Captain Bragg and dozens of one-off characters. Peter Newman was next with 25, then Larry Kenney and Earl Hammond in the twenties.
Yes. Larry Kenney (born 1947) and Peter Newman (born 1942) are both still active in voice work. Earl Hammond, Bob McFadden and Earle Hyman have all passed away.
No cast has been announced yet. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation confirmed a new ThunderCats animated feature is in development, unveiled at the Annecy festival on 22 June 2026 - see the movie hub for the latest on casting.
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