Voices in Our Heads
Destiny 2’s Cayde-6 will die in the upcoming “Destiny 2: Forsaken” expansion, releasing in September. That’s not news to many. When the trailer released showing the point-blank assassination of a character we have all come to love, the internet was buzzing. The shock value of that revelation alone is probably more than any that has come from Bungie’s video game franchise since the initial E3 video showing a few friends playing around in Old Russia.
Recently; however, it ”leaked” that voice actor Nathan Fillion will not be reprising his role as Cayde-6 in the upcoming expansion. When we fire up the new expansion, any of Cayde-6’s quips, one-liners, and dry humor will instead be delivered by the talented Nolan North.
I write this, not to start a debate or discussion on “who said it better” between the two very established and esteemed actors, rather as an observation on how this happened with a little twist of irony at the end.
When asked, Fillion said “...I wasn’t available for this last installment.” Insert puzzled look here…
I am not nearly as well versed on development cycles of video games, or the hours and hours of planning, scheduling, and finishing that takes place when releasing a new video game or expansion. However, if we are to believe what we have been told by Bungie over the past 6 years, that they have a plan, a road map, then I have to think that planning around an actor’s schedule, especially one that is such a well known and key character, is something done at the start of development.
I know that Cayde-6’s time is very limited now with Forsaken on the horizon. I believe we have all come to terms with the fact that we will no longer be turning in our weekly Flashpoint bounties to the loveable-yet-charismatically-irritating Hunter Vanguard once the DLC drops. This, though...just doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t pass the smell test…
What better way to pay homage to Cayde-6, and Fillion by proxy, than hearing his last words muttered by the voice actor who brought the character to life back in Destiny?
Not a knock on North, either. Nolan North has a huge range and several notable characters under his belt. Objectively, I know that North will do an excellent job, but there is a part of me that will not enjoy the lack of Fillion’s silky baritone voice saying the one line many have talked about from their play testing of Forsaken. (“How’s your sister?” - RIP Cayde-6)
There very well could be deeper issues here. Bungie is not a stranger to making changes like this that very much have the feel of an 11th-hour decision. One of these is what brought Nolan North to the franchise as the voice of our Ghost. (RIP Dinklebot)
I digress, because really, it “is what it is”. This change won’t stop me from playing the expansion, and I expect I will enjoy every minute of it. I won’t necessarily like enjoying every minute of it though, said very much like a little child who had to get vanilla ice cream because they were all out of chocolate.
The irony of this whole ordeal, in bullet points:
Nathan Fillion voices Cayde-6 from Destiny
Nolan North voices Nathan Drake from Uncharted
Nathan Fillion ceases to be the voice actor for Cayde-6
Nolan North becomes voice actor for Cayde-6
Nathan Fillion becomes Nathan Drake in a fan-made Uncharted movie-short (which, by the way, is one of the best pieces of cinematic brilliance that we have seen from a video game movie, and it was FAN MADE!. Seriously, watch it if you haven’t…) Uncharted Fan Film
I’m sure the two of them will continue to have successful careers and we will be blessed by their talent both “on stage” and through our speakers for many years to come. All in all, it isn’t the end of the world, just the end of the line for Cayde-6 with Fillion walking off into the sunset.
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