Baldur’s Gate 3 was one of the best RPGs of the decade, and it’s not getting a sequel—at least, not one made by Larian, anyway. That’s simply because the developer’s heart wasn’t in it, or the prospect of making DLC, either. I can’t quite blame them. If I spent close to 10 years doing anything, I’d want a breather, too.
At the time, I thought that was exactly right that the studio stepped away—Larian doesn’t need D&D to make the next great RPG. Echoing that feeling is Astarion’s voice actor, Neil Newbon, who shared similar thoughts in a conversation with Radio Times Gaming’s “Arcade Hang” (thanks, GamesRadar+).
Newbon got into it while talking about the prospect of playing Astarion again: “I really hope that I get to reprise Astarion in some form or another again, whether it’s BG4 or what-have-you—I’d love to play him live-action, that’d be amazing, that’d be awesome to do that.”
However, he added: “[But] I don’t get a call on any of that stuff, so I don’t know if that’s going to be possible or not.”
While it’s surprising to hear Newbon’s not been contacted to reprise his role at all (okay, not too surprising)—or that he’s simply being professional and not breaking NDAs he may or may not have signed—he’s keen to clarify that he’s not upset at Larian for the dearth of opportunities to hop back into his favourite vampire spawn.
“I really love the fact that Larian, when they knew their heart wasn’t in doing another game, or even DLC for that matter—that this was the experience, it’d taken them eight years, they were exhausted, they were tired, they were happy, and all the rest of it—but it was like ‘that’s done now’.
“I like the fact they stuck to their convictions, and they knew in their heart it wouldn’t be as good as the endeavour they’d just done, because their hearts weren’t fully in it, and they wanted to do other things. I think it was absolutely the right call.”
Hear hear. Larian’s at its best when it’s excited about whatever it’s making—if Swen Vincke & Co. aren’t elbow-deep in enthusiasm, then neither am I. Newbon adds, however, that he’s “really grateful to’ve been part of this in the first place—grateful to Swen, grateful to all the devs, grateful to all the directors and cast.”
As for the future of the series? Newbon’s open to the possibility that someone could match Larian’s pedigree, but concedes that it shouldn’t just be a copy-paste job. “I don’t know who could do it. I’m very curious as to who could do a fourth one … and to see what they will do with it, because you don’t want a carbon cutout of [BG3].”
He hopes, however, that “they get the writers back, that’d be a good move.”
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