We’ve known for months now that NBC was bringing back the 80’s classic “Knight Rider” but it wasn’t until just last week that backroom politics stole away KITT’s voice and forced NBC to find a new navigator for Michael. Originally Will Arnett (Arrested Development & “Blades of Glory”) was all set, polished, and ready to provide the voice to the smart talking KITT. That all changed when GMC had feelings otherwise. So what’s GMC got to do with Will Arnett and Knight Rider? Well Arnett has provided the voiceover to several commercials for GMC trucks for nearly a decade now and Knight Rider is pretty much one big commercial for the Ford Mustang. Conflict of interest? Apparently GMC thought so and whether he was pressured or not Arnett had to walk away from the Knight project, as he told Variety:

“I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new ‘Knight Rider’ movie,” Arnett said. “However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project.”

So while Arnett is walking out the backdoor guess who NBC has walking in to replace him? Val Kilmer. Yes, that’s right. Ex-Batman is swooping in to save the Knight (Instead of the day. That was a joke, kid. Laugh.) and will be re-recording all the voiceover work that had already been done for the upcoming mini-series / TV movie. I like Val Kilmer plenty, but he is kinda boring and Will Arnett would have made for a lot more fun. Ah well. Thanks a lot GMC!

You can hear Will Arnett’s one liner in the video below. Now say goodbye to it.

You can watch the latest Knight Rider commercial over at YouTube if you’re interested.