Narrative director Steven Gallagher of Eidos Montreal, developing company for upcoming rehash Thief, today revealed why the developer decided not to feature the original voice actor for Garrett.
Unlike how Kojima Productions dealt with David Hayter, Eidos Montreal did reach out to voice actor Stephen Russell to potentially reclaim his old job, and he was even part of the early preliminary recordings. However, a decision to generate video content similarly to how Naughty Dog handled the Uncharted series changed the company’s mind on using Russell.
Gallagher said on the subject:
"We want Thief to be a really rich, story-driven experience. Being able to deliver the narrative in the most convincing and believable way is a really important part of providing that experience. With the new visual of Garrett we’d created, we found that there was a disconnect that we couldn’t ignore between the concepted character and Stephen’s voice today."
Though Russell is reported as "a really athletic guy," the Thief team didn’t feel that Russell’s current voice would match the character that the developers have created for the new title: "We could have pasted Stephen’s voice on top of the actions and stunts of someone else, but this wouldn’t appear natural," Gallagher said.
The first looks for the Playstation 4 title Thief brings Garrett "Out of the Shadows" in a big way. We at PSU will have more information on Thief and the PS4 as more releases.
Via Eurogamer