Prior to the appointment of Sarah Natochenny as the voice of Pokémon’s Ash Ketchum, the voice actress in the English version of the series was actually Veronica Taylor. Now that Ash’s arc has come to an end in the anime series, Taylor reflected on the time she was essentially “fired” from the role.
As a result of the sudden makeover in 2006, she’s still struggling and isn’t even sure if she properly said goodbye to Ash. Here’s what she had to say during an interview with Kotaku:
Veronica Taylor: “I don’t know if I said it completely [goodbye] according to Ash. When we were all recast or fired—whatever you want to call it—after season eight, it was incredibly devastating that we didn’t get a chance to continue the show. I had a bit of PTSD with the ending, how sad is that.”
Taylor goes on to note that she’s not alone in her struggles and that it’s just an unfortunate reality of the voice acting industry when recasting happens:
“You, as an actor, are so disposable. You have to come to terms with that.”
In the end, it was Sarah Natochenny who followed Ash’s arc to the end. She even shared her last emotional moments of filming when the series ended last September, calling it an “extraordinary privilege” to voice the same character for 17 years.
Veronica Taylor also weighed in on Ash’s farewell, mentioning how she “loved every minute” working on the anime and how it’s been an “amazing 25-year journey” with him, Pikachu, and the Pokémon community.
