There are many differences between Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio and the Disney versions of the story, including the fact that its cricket character is named Sebastian, not Jiminy. Del Toro's adaptation of Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, which he made for Netflix with co-director Mark Gustafson, depicts the story of the titular wooden boy puppet using stop-motion animation for aesthetic and metaphorical purposes. The movie also takes liberties with the classic story to emphasize greater personal and political themes that were important to del Toro in particular.
Additionally, the talking cricket character, who is iconically known as Jiminy Cricket in Disney's 1940 animated classic and the studio's 2022 live-action remake, was given a new name for the Netflix version of Pinocchio that he hasn't ever had before. Voiced by Ewan McGregor, the character is called Sebastian J. Cricket in Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson's retelling of the story. Sebastian narrates the movie, which follows the magically sentient puppet Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) as he seeks the love of his creator, Geppetto (David Bradley), finds fame with a traveling circus, and navigates life in Fascist Italy in the 1930s.
The Original Pinocchio's Cricket Wasn't Called Jiminy
One reason why the talking cricket in Netflix's stop-motion-animated version of Pinocchio is not called Jiminy is probably due to Disney's trademark of that character name. However, it also wouldn't make much sense for Guillermo del Toro's version of Pinocchio to use the name because Carlo Collodi didn't give the cricket that moniker in his original story. It's only associated with the Disney adaptations and other media produced by the studio. In Collodi's 1883 children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, the character is simply called the Talking Cricket. That's no fun, though, so del Toro and co-writer Patrick McHale gave their version the name Sebastian J. Cricket.
It also makes sense that the cricket in Netflix's Pinocchio has a unique new name because of his other differences from the original story. In Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio and its more faithful adaptations, the Talking Cricket is killed by Pinocchio with a mallet, but he comes back as a ghost to continue advising the title character. Guillermo del Toro, who is known for horror, has admitted he almost killed Sebastian J. Cricket early in the movie but decided against it. There's a moment in his Pinocchio where the wooden boy traps Sebastian using a mallet, though, and this is surely a nod to the murder from the book.
How Guillermo del Toro's Sebastian Pays Homage To Jiminy Cricket
Despite not sharing a name with Disney's version of the Talking Cricket, the Sebastian character does seem to pay homage to Jiminy. Could Sebastian J. Cricket be fully named Sebastian Jiminy Cricket? Without confirmation, the J in the character's name has at least been widely assumed to be a direct reference to Jiminy (the first name could also be a nod to Ariel's moral adviser, Sebastian, in The Little Mermaid, but that's more of a stretch). Sebastian in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is also similar to Jiminy Cricket in that he's the narrator of the movie, and he sings a memorable song at the end, and over the main credits.