Two major Starfield actors got their roles after Bethesda decided to axe voice protagonists: "Games never do this. Once you’re out you’re out"

Starfield
(Image credit: Bethesda)

The voices behind Starfield's Andreja and Sam Coe were originally the voices for your character.

As any Starfield player will tell you, the spacefaring RPG's protagonist doesn't have an actual voice. This wasn't always the case though, as actor Elias Toufexis recently revealed on Twitter that himself and fellow actor Cissy Jones were originally cast as the male and female voice for the player character, respectively.

Developer Bethesda then chose to can the whole idea, effectively throwing away "months" of work when they kicked out the concept of the player character having a voice. Rather than being out of work though, Bethesda instead hooked up Toufexis and Jones with other roles in Starfield.

The pair would go on to instead voice Andreja and Sam Coe. As it happens, both are actually members of The Constellation faction in Starfield, and both can even be romanced by the player character (see our Starfield romances guide for more on the matter).

Toufexis, for his part, gives major props to Bethesa for hooking the pair of actors up with new roles after the voiced protagonist feature was cut. "Games never do this. Once you're out you're out," the actor adds in a follow-up tweet.

Truth be told, it would've been pretty huge for Starfield's player character to be fully voiced. Bethesda-made RPGs seldom feature a voice for their protagonists, and the amount of work that would've gone into voicing every single dialog option is pretty staggering.

However, Toufexis reveals in the follow-up tweet that he still voices certain actions for the player character. So when you hear your adventurer grunt when they jump, or wince as they take damage, that's Toufexis's voice and Jones's voice for the female protagonist in turn. 

If you need more helpful pointers on who to recruit out in the stars, head over to our Starfield companions guide for more. 

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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