More than a year after the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, Neil Newbon’s career has changed in an amazing way.
Before 2023, Newbon did voice work for video games, including Final Fantasy XVI and Star Wars: The Old Republic, and did motion capture (MOCAP) work on games like Until Dawn. However, in August 2023, Newbon and his character from Baldur’s Gate 3, Astarion, became fan favorites for the gaming community. Since the release of the game, #astarion has more than 200,000 posts on TikTok and Instagram combined.
“The last year has been wild. The release of the game was great. The four years before that, doing the game was incredibly joyful. I get to work with so many actors — friends now. I get to hang out with my friends, which is great. I also get to see the success of other people, which is wonderful. And ultimately the most important thing has been hearing the connection of the players, of their connection to the story, the fact they got the work.”
The success of the game and his character brought Newbon to New York Comic Con (NYCC), where he, Devora Wilde (Lae’zel), Performance Director Aliona Baranova, and Jennifer English (Shadowheart) chatted about all things Baldur’s Gate 3, the creation of the game, and Newbon’s dislike of Chappell Roan’s music.
“It doesn’t mean I’m not an ally,” Newbon said. “It’s okay not to like a song.”
One topic brought up during the panel was which characters the actors chose to romance during their own playthroughs of Baldur’s Gate 3. Naturally, Newbon chose to romance Astarion, but he’s not alone. According to an X thread made by the official Baldur’s Gate 3 account, Astarion is the second-most-kissed character in the game.
I didn't think I was prepared for a story being so front and center. He's not the lead. The lead is like 11 characters of these amazing actors, and then there's a whole huge amount of supporting characters who are also very prominent and very amazing. So to be amongst 258 actors, plus the MOCAP actors, plus the animators that also jumped in, and all the hundreds of people that went to making this game, it's really great to be a part of that. I don't think I was prepared for his face to be everywhere like that.
If you’re looking for more Neil Newbon in your life, his voice can be found in Fallout: London, the recent DLC for Fallout 4, and the upcoming game Evolutis: Duality. As he looks to the future, Newbon also takes a stance against artificial intelligence (AI) and its use in storytelling in video games.
“Ultimately people don’t really want to see AI characters,” Newbon said. “They want to have human beings doing it. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I really hope people wise up and go, ‘Well, an AI is not going to be as entertaining as a person.’ There’s going to be an uncanny value relationship between you and the character if it’s not real. So I’m an advocate for performance — for people. I hope people and gamers that don’t know much about acting start understanding what actors can bring to the narrative part of games.”
Baldur's Gate 3 transports players to a fantasy world with similar game mechanics to Dungeons & Dragons. | Source: Larian Studios
Baldur's Gate 3 transports players to a fantasy world with similar game mechanics to Dungeons & Dragons. | Source: Larian Studios
Baldur's Gate 3 transports players to a fantasy world with similar game mechanics to Dungeons & Dragons. | Source: Larian Studios
Regardless of where the future takes Newbon and the video game industry at large, he is simply enjoying the time he has been able to spend as a part of the Baldur’s Gate 3 community.
“It’s incredibly gratifying,” Newbon said. “I feel very grateful and I’m very humbled by it. I know people say that all the time, but genuinely I try and live my life from gratitude because I remember being a very broke catering actor who actually didn’t have anywhere to live for about a year. I remember those days very, very fondly in a way because it reminds me of what I have now and how I can help other people as well and champion other actors. It’s been amazing.”
