Astarion's voice actor says it'd be 'awesome' to play the character again after Baldur's Gate 3: 'Live action, game … advert for grape juice, I don't know'

Astarion, a pale-haired, fancily dressed Vampire Spawn in Baldur's Gate 3, makes a quip while wearing a snazzy cowboy hat.
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Astarion is something of a fan(ged) favourite in Baldur's Gate 3—well-written, sympathetic, complex and, if we're being honest, quite pretty. As part of Larian's utter landslide of awards last year, voice actor Neil Newbon won top dog at the Game Awards for his performance. A landmark role by any metric.

As per a recent interview with BAFTA, Newbon revealed that he thought the role was going to be far more short-lived: "I got asked to come in for a demo, for a vampire character which I thought was a bad guy [and] was going to be killed off immediately".

Neil Newbon would love to play Astarion again and how he landed the role in Baldurs Gate 3 | BAFTA - YouTube Neil Newbon would love to play Astarion again and how he landed the role in Baldurs Gate 3 | BAFTA - YouTube
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It was only until Larian had signed off on the character that Newbon discovered he'd be in work for a while: "They told me it was an actual companion character, and it'd probably be about a year's worth of work—and then four years later, here we are, darlings. Here we are." Newbon goes on to describe the gallery of techniques and inspirations (including a stray cat, named Cat) that he used to inform the character: "It was a stand-out project … every day was amazing."

He's still looking to the future, though. "There are definitely people I'd love to work with, I'd love to work with Santa Monica, Insomniac, I'd like to work with, I'd love to work with Naughty Dog … Bethesda stuff? I love Fallout, man, I'd love to do that."

Interestingly enough, Newbon's already lent his voice to Fallout London, a fan-made mega project that should be out soon, barring any further delays, though that's very different from an official spot in a Bethesda title.

Still, that's not to say Astarion is going to be sleeping in his coffin for the rest of Newbon's days—Hasbro still owns the rights to the characters even if Larian's not going to be making Baldur's Gate 4 any time soon.

Moreover, Newbon's keen to play him again: "To be honest with you, I'd love to play Astarion again, somehow. I would love to do that. That would be awesome—live action, game, I don't care," he jokes: "Advert for grape juice. I don't know, whatever."

I'm a little nervous about Hasbro touching the story of Baldur's Gate 3 again—especially if the game's writers are tied to Larian's newer projects, like the enigmatic Excalibur, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to spend more time with the character. Even if he's advertising grape juice (or a blood orange drink. I mean, the slogans write themselves).

Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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