Seitz Comes Home to JoJo — Behind the Mic
Patrick Seitz has been the English voice of Dio Brando for over a decade, but for Steel Ball Run JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, he's running the show from the other side of the glass. As dubbing director, casting director, and dubbing creative lead on the 1st STAGE, Seitz oversaw every English-language performance in the Netflix-exclusive special — and in a new staff relay interview published by Anime Anime, he explains why the gig felt like coming home.
"I had an opportunity years ago to do a little bit of script adaptation and fill in for the dub director on Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency," Seitz said. "So being able to participate in the adaptation, casting, and direction of SBR 1st STAGE's English version felt, in a way, like coming home."
The anime, produced by david Production (Fire Force, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Parts 1–5), adapts Part 7 of Hirohiko Araki's manga. Set in 1890s America, it follows the Steel Ball Run — a cross-continent horse race from San Diego to New York. Former prodigy jockey Johnny Joestar, now paraplegic, joins the race after a mysterious encounter with the outlaw Gyro Zeppeli. The 1st STAGE launched on Netflix worldwide on March 19, 2026 as a special single-episode event.
Why English Audio Fits Steel Ball Run
Seitz's core pitch is simple: SBR is set in 19th-century America, and hearing the cast speak English grounds the world in a way the Japanese track can't replicate. "Because SBR is set in America's past, I feel the English dub is afforded a fun and legitimate opportunity to really lean into the place and time," he said.
He points to how each character's speech patterns reflect their background. Sandman speaks in blunt, direct sentences. Steven Steel and the race announcer deploy what Seitz calls "baroque grandiloquence." The variety isn't just stylistic — it builds character through cadence alone.
The recommendation isn't to replace the Japanese performances, which Seitz praises openly. Instead, he frames the English dub with Japanese subtitles as a second viewing mode — "a different experience, but we're heading for the same place," as he put it, comparing the dub team to Gyro cutting through the forest toward the same finish line.
Casting Johnny and Gyro
Seitz and casting partner Chris Perrotti auditioned hundreds of actors before landing on Daman Mills (Frieza in Dragon Ball Super) as Johnny and Kaiji Tang (Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen) as Gyro. Neither was a foregone conclusion.
On Mills as Johnny, Seitz is emphatic: "Daman is very adept at expressing Johnny's obstinate and volatile nature — a byproduct of the dizzying highs and lows that Johnny has already experienced at a young age." He notes that a less skilled actor could make Johnny's raw pain feel "contrived or abrasive," but Mills keeps Johnny sympathetic — someone the audience wants to root for through the entire race.
Gyro presented the opposite challenge. Where Johnny wears his emotions on his sleeve, Gyro holds back, deflects, and intimidates. Seitz compares Tang's performance to hearing an engine revving — you sense the power underneath even when the character isn't flooring it. "Kaiji is very adept at being nuanced as Gyro and not tipping his hand," Seitz said. "He's a much more controlled character than Johnny."
The Rest of the Dub Ensemble
Seitz highlighted several other standout moments from the recording sessions. He shared a laugh with Jamieson Price during the scene where Steven Steel shifts from confident promoter to a tearful breakdown. He praised Cedric L. Williams's take on Pocoloco across the board. And he singled out Dave B. Mitchell's energy as the race announcer, plus a particular Diego Brando line reading from Damian Haas — "It's called technique, you troglodyte" — that made the whole booth crack up.
As for his own history with Dio, Seitz remains a fan of the character's sheer commitment to villainy. "He's been described as a 'generational hater,' and I think that's apt," Seitz said, comparing Dio to Iago from Shakespeare's Othello — a role he hopes to play someday. "When Dio puts on the stone mask and rejects his humanity, he doesn't hesitate. Terrible as it is, I respect the commitment."
Looking Ahead
Steel Ball Run JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 1st STAGE is streaming now on Netflix worldwide with both Japanese audio and the English dub that Seitz directed. The series has over 120 million copies in circulation across all parts of Araki's manga, published by Shueisha. No schedule for additional Steel Ball Run episodes beyond the 1st STAGE has been announced.
The English dub is available globally on Netflix. For manga readers, Viz Media publishes the English-language edition of Steel Ball Run. Araki's current serialization, Part 9: The JOJOLands, runs in Ultra Jump.
(C) LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/Shueisha/JoJo's Bizarre Adventure SBR Production Committee