Yoshi has a voice, and it belongs to Donald Glover. Nintendo made the reveal on Monday (March 9) in the middle of a Direct livestream, alongside a final trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The trailer drops Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi into an evil galaxy with Bowser to beat again, plus Bowser Jr. and Wart for company. It ends on the image the whole movie seems built around: Mario riding Yoshi’s back through space, from planet to planet and into battle.
Glover is the headline, but the announcement also filled in a lot of the supporting cast. Issa Rae plays Honey Queen, Luis Guzmán is Wart, Brie Larson voices Princess Rosalina and Benny Safdie takes Bowser Jr. They join a returning ensemble led by Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad. Birdo, the fan favorite, is in the movie but doesn’t have a credited voice yet.
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Per Variety, as relayed by Complex, the story picks up after Mario and Luigi’s win over Bowser in the first film. Peach’s birthday party sets off a galactic adventure that takes the crew to a volcanic world, an underwater planet and a neon techno planet full of gravity-defying obstacles, with Rosalina and Yoshi on the team.
Why it matters
The first movie earned more than $1.3 billion worldwide by early June 2023, according to Variety, which is why a sequel this loud was never in doubt. This one is also a birthday present: it lands during Nintendo’s 40th-anniversary celebration of Super Mario, and its creator says as much.
This movie will be the centerpiece of the anniversary. We hope you enjoy Mario and friends’ new adventure on the big screen.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Hot New Hip Hop
The Mario celebration isn’t Nintendo’s only milestone: Zelda’s 40th anniversary has its own music-led run, with an orchestral tour.
For Glover, it’s another turn in a career that has run through Atlanta, Community and Solo: A Star Wars Story, and behind the camera on Swarm. His last album as Childish Gambino, Bando Stone and the New World, came out in July 2024. Pitchfork noted that there are no plans, so far, for Yoshi to rap.
Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic direct for Nintendo and Illumination, and Universal distributes. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens in theaters on April 1, and Billboard was quick to point out that’s not an April Fools’ joke.
- In theaters
- April 1, 2026
- Directors
- Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
- Studios
- Nintendo and Illumination, distributed by Universal
- Yoshi
- Donald Glover
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
