Baldur’s Gate 3 actors explain that the RPGs hype hasn’t bolstered their careers – “there isn’t much sway held by past success”

Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 has some truly amazing performances, and a lot of that is because of the amazing actors behind the game’s cast with some who even ad-libbed their character’s best moments. Unfortunately, the success of Larian’s RPG hasn’t helped the careers of the game’s cast, although they are now eternally beloved by fans.

While Larian has seen so much success that it’s founded a brand-new storytelling department, sized up and started working on two new games, the acting world is especially brutal no matter how many awards you win. (Watch The Substance, readers.)

Speaking to Dutch podcast All in the Game during the Netherlands’ Heroes Dutch Comic Con (thanks, VGC), three cast members on the game explained that the massive success of BG3 basically hasn’t helped their career at all.

Baldur’s Gate 3 cast discuss their career after Larian’s RPG

Samantha Béart (Karlach), Theo Solomon (Wyll) and Dave Jones (Halsin) explained that the massive success of BG3 has led to a rabid fanbase that is always willing to meet their favourite characters at conventions.

“[It’s been] two years in the running, and the lines aren’t getting shorter,” Karlach’s actor Samantha Béart said. “Which terrifies me because when this first came out, we thought ‘okay, it’s good, it’ll do well’, not ‘it’ll do exceptionally well’”.

Theo Solomon, the actor behind Wyll, explained that he was taken aback by the sheer excitement of the fanbase. “People flying around the world to meet us and things? It’s amazing, so I’m just very humbled,” he said.

Unfortunately, the actors involved in the project haven’t been handed opportunities on a silver platter for their award-winning performances. In fact, in the wake of their success, their career opportunities are, well, exactly the same.

“I think there’s an assumption that we’re all super busy, and sorted, and rich, and none of these things are true,” Samantha Béart added. “In the UK it’s an interesting one, we work through third-party studios a lot of the time and a lot of the time they don’t really engage in this culture. A lot of the time they go ‘sure, you’re a big shot, of course you are’, and you have to put the award nominations on the table and they go ‘oh, I know what THAT is, so I’ll give you a chance’”.

The actor explained that there’s a “disconnect” between developers and fans and the third-party studios that put forth work for actors. Some of this disconnect is because of studios’ lack of knowledge about the games industry and some of it is because of the game’s industry’s adoration of NDAs.

“It all hinges just on your audition, and seeing as they’re all ‘blind’ auditions as well, generally, it will just be based on your performance.”

BALDUR’S GATE 3 HALSIN ACTOR DAVE JONES

“It’s an odd one,” Béart continued. “Because there’s a whole bit in the middle, the people who record us in the middle, who aren’t maybe so au fait with all of this, how popular [it is]. But the fans and devs very much want us in their work, I think, but it’s NDA’ed up to the eyeballs, this industry, so it’s very hard to get the transparency you get in film and TV. And you don’t see our faces a lot of the time.”

“You do a game which is as big as this and everyone’s like ‘oh, you made it man, you must be getting all the huge jobs’, but no, it’s still the life of an actor, you’re still going up for jobs, you’re still doing jobs here and there, you’re still building,” added Wyll actor Theo Solomon.

Halsin actor Dave Jones explained that the reality of the situation is that “there isn’t much sway held by your past success” in the games industry and acting in general, at least outside of Hollywood big names like Tom Cruise or Ralph Fiennes. For the majority of actors, the audition is everything.

“It all hinges just on your audition, and seeing as they’re all ‘blind’ auditions as well, generally, it will just be based on your performance,” Jones said. Which is what it should be… it’s just different, and I know there’s been many winners of performance awards where the phones just haven’t rung for months afterwards.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 actors are getting additional roles, but they aren’t being handed everything, even though I want Jennifer English’s voice to be everywhere. Screw it, let her play Master Chief and Doom Slayer and whoever the protagonist of Black Ops 6 is.