Iago (Aladdin)

Iago is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Aladdin (1992), the direct-to-video sequels The Return of Jafar (1994), Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), and the television series. An anthropomorphic red-plumed talking parrot, he was voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in all animated appearances until Gottfried's death in 2022. He was voiced by Alan Tudyk in the live-action adaptation of Aladdin, by Barrett Leddy in the 2023 Disney+ special Lego Disney Princess: The Castle Quest, and by Piotr Michael in the 2023 crossover short Once Upon a Studio.

Iago appeared in the original film as a sidekick to the first main villain of the franchise, Jafar, functioning both as comic relief and the former secondary antagonist. He reformed for the better over the franchise's run in the sequels and television series, joining the protagonists as a hero and being a major protagonist in The Return of Jafar. His name is a homage to the villain of William Shakespeare's Othello.

In the original story treatment by Howard Ashman for Aladdin, Iago (previously named Sinbad) had been originally conceived as a "British" calm and serious straight man working off Jafar, who was originally conceived as more over-the-top, comedic, and irritable, but the filmmakers later reversed their personalities in large part in order to make Jafar more threatening and when they saw Gilbert Gottfried in Beverly Hills Cop II, Gottfried was cast to provide Iago's voice.

Screenwriter Terry Rossio shared a concept behind Iago on his website Wordplay, in that Jafar transferred his emotions to his pet, allowing him to do magic without distractions. Rossio also mentioned, since Iago is too small to contain such emotions, "you end up with a feathered Gilbert Gottfried." Iago's animator Will Finn tried to incorporate some aspects of Gottfried's appearance into Iago's design, especially his trademark semi-closed eyes and the always-appearing teeth.

Gottfried has said that his voiceover career really began after voicing the character in the 1992 film. “... that has been one of those things that lives on,” he said. “That seemed to open the door for other voiceover jobs.”

Gottfried's onstage persona led to him being cast as the wise-cracking Iago. Gottfried is often referred to as "the Iago guy" and similar terms, being more known by his voice role than by name.

Iago resembles a red lory, with red feathers and blue tipped wings, a bluish-purple tail, and white around the eyes. He can speak fluent English and has the ability to perfectly mimic voices. He also possesses knowledge of various tricks learned from Jafar. He is easily frustrated and openly vocalizes his frustrations, and avoids direct confrontations if he can help it, but when required, he can be quite cunning and mischievous.

Iago is somewhat arrogant and also known for his notorious greed of treasure and gold, for which he will go to outlandish lengths to acquire, usually dragging along Abu to help him, but Abu's incompetence always costs him. Iago is often put in situations of deciding between saving his own tail feathers or doing the right thing. His guilt always leads him to do the latter as he lacks a moral conscience; his greed leaves him unsatisfied in usually losing some form of reward or riches, for which he always berates himself afterwards. Overall, Iago is good at heart, despite his flaws.