Baldur's Gate 3's Neil Newbon would love to play Astarion again: "Live action or game, I don't care – an advert for grape juice"

Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Neil Newbon, the actor who plays Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3, has said he would "love" to reprise his role as the fan-favorite sexy vampire.

The Astarion actor gushed over the character in a recent interview with BAFTA, where he was asked about his career's next steps. "There are definitely people I'd love to work with," Newbon said, pointing to God of War rebooters Sony Santa Monica, Marvel's Spider-Man makers Insomniac Games, and The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog as examples. Also, "Bethesda stuff - I love Fallout, man. I'd love to do that."

Newbon couldn't detach himself fully from the Baldur's gate 3 'moment' that's been lasting almost a full year, though. "To be honest with you, I'd love to play Astarion again, somehow," he said. "I would love to do that. That would be awesome. Live-action or game, I don't care. Advert for grape juice, I don't know, whatever."

Developer Larian Studios has been pretty firm in the notion that it won't be returning to the D&D license in any form, meaning the team has closed the door on an expansion or a sequel to the smash hit RPG. So, if we do end up seeing Astarion again, it might not be from the team that bought us Baldur's Gate 3. License holder Hasbro has said it's actively hunting partners for a potential Baldur's Gate 4, however.

We can't blame Newbon too much for not wanting to say goodbye to Astarion because, well, he's great, but also because working on the character was seemingly a pretty personal exercise for the actor. Working on Astarion apparently took around a year, and Newbon said he drew inspiration from three of his real life friends, who all unknowingly shaped Astarion's personality.

“I realized very quickly this was D&D”: Astarion actor Neil Newbon sniffed out Baldur’s Gate 3, or maybe Icewind Dale 3, and put in for 10 of the RPG’s 12 races mid-Final Fantasy 16.

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.