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”.
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).
