{"id":1850594,"date":"2026-03-27T12:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1850594"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:03:09","slug":"i-dont-really-want-to-do-that-again-baldurs-gate-3-actor-neil-newbon-says-hes-avoided-roles-over-astarion-typecasting-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1850594","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I don&#8217;t really want to do that again&#8221; &#8211; Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon says he&#8217;s avoided roles over Astarion typecasting concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/baldurs-gate-iii\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Baldur&#8217;s Gate III<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t really want to do that again&#8221; &#8211; Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon says he&#8217;s avoided roles over Astarion typecasting concerns<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Fangs but no fangs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/astarion_vampires_bg3_baldursgate3.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"A head and shoulders cinematic screenshot of a white-haired vampire elf throwing their head back with a look of strong emotion. The top of their bare chest is visible, as are the fangs in their mouth. It's Astarion, and he's speckled with blood.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"astarion_vampires_bg3_baldursgate3.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer \/ Larian<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/robert-purchese\">Robert Purchese<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Associate Editor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-27T12:03:09+00:00\">March 27, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/actor-neil-newbon-avoids-astarion-typecasting?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          1 comment<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"e743aa5e-63ec-4654-845a-30b201311799\" data-name=\"Balduru0027s Gate III\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Balduru0026#39;s Gate III\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Balduru0026#39;s Gate III\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Balduru0027s Gate III\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Balduru0027s Gate III\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Baldur's Gate III\" title=\"Follow Baldur's Gate III\"><br \/>\n  Follow Baldur&#8217;s Gate III<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Neil Newbon, the award-winning actor known for portraying the vampire Astarion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/baldurs-gate-3-a-critical-success-with-critical-failures\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3<\/a>, has said he&#8217;s avoided roles recently because they wanted a repeat performance &#8211; or thereabouts &#8211; of the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>Newbon was sharing his admiration for David Bowie while <a href=\"https:\/\/frvr.com\/blog\/baldurs-gate-3s-neil-newbon-avoided-roles-just-like-astarion-david-bowie\/\">speaking to FMVR<\/a>, particularly about how the late singer strove to always reinvent himself. &#8220;I always liked that about him as an artist, that he was constantly trying out new things,&#8221; Newbon said. &#8220;Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn&#8217;t.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It was in relation to this that Newbon said he&#8217;d sidestepped roles because they were too close to the character of Astarion, both from a performance standpoint &#8211; some apparently wanted the same high-pitched, suave demeanour as Astarion &#8211; and from the standpoint of the underlying character himself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve definitely avoided a few roles recently,&#8221; he said, &#8220;not because they were bad projects or anything, just because they, for me, the character &#8211; they kinda want the Astarion thing. And it was just like, &#8216;Well, I don&#8217;t really want to do that again. It&#8217;s too close to the character I&#8217;ve already done, I don&#8217;t think I could offer anything necessarily that&#8217;s interesting to this particular character.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 effect&#8217; propelled the careers of several actors featured as companions in the game, especially Jennifer English (Shadowheart), Devora Wilde (Lae&#8217;zel), Amelia Tyler (the narrator), Samantha Beart (Karlach) and Neil Newbon. Newbon arguably led the cast &#8211; he also directed some of the performances, including Beart&#8217;s as Karlach &#8211; and was awarded Best Performance at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/baldurs-gate-3-sweeps-the-game-awards\">the 2023 Game Awards, an awards ceremony that Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 dominated<\/a>. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/clair-obscur-is-game-of-the-year-but-what-about-everything-else-here-are-the-winners-of-the-2025-game-awards\">Jennifer English would win that same award two years later for her role as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/a>.) But Newbon hasn&#8217;t featured in a major role since.<\/p>\n<p>He seems to have appeared (I don&#8217;t see confirmation anywhere) in Crimson Desert as boss-encounter-related character Marni; he&#8217;s the AI Darius in Marathon, though he appears in only a few voice logs; and he co-starred with Ben Starr in the smaller-scale psychological horror game Dead Take. He&#8217;s the villain Kurnaz in the recently fully released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/greedfall\">Greedfall<\/a> 2, and he&#8217;s appearing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/epictellers\/starfinder-afterlight\">the crowdfunded Starfinder game Afterlight<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, he told FMVR that: &#8220;I&#8217;ve been doing a lot of work and all of the jobs I&#8217;ve been doing have been wildly different from that [Astarion] in terms of character work.&#8221; Perhaps there&#8217;s a role he&#8217;s worked on that we&#8217;re yet to see.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Neil Newbon, the award-winning actor known for portraying the vampire Astarion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/baldurs-gate-3-a-critical-success-with-critical-failures\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3<\/a>, has said he&#8217;s avoided roles recently because they wanted a repeat performance &#8211; or thereabouts &#8211; of the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>Newbon was sharing his admiration for David Bowie while <a href=\"https:\/\/frvr.com\/blog\/baldurs-gate-3s-neil-newbon-avoided-roles-just-like-astarion-david-bowie\/\">speaking to FMVR<\/a>, particularly about how the late singer strove to always reinvent himself. &#8220;I always liked that about him as an artist, that he was constantly trying out new things,&#8221; Newbon said. &#8220;Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn&#8217;t.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It was in relation to this that Newbon said he&#8217;d sidestepped roles because they were too close to the character of Astarion, both from a performance standpoint &#8211; some apparently wanted the same high-pitched, suave demeanour as Astarion &#8211; and from the standpoint of the underlying character himself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve definitely avoided a few roles recently,&#8221; he said, &#8220;not because they were bad projects or anything, just because they, for me, the character &#8211; they kinda want the Astarion thing. And it was just like, &#8216;Well, I don&#8217;t really want to do that again. It&#8217;s too close to the character I&#8217;ve already done, I don&#8217;t think I could offer anything necessarily that&#8217;s interesting to this particular character.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 effect&#8217; propelled the careers of several actors featured as companions in the game, especially Jennifer English (Shadowheart), Devora Wilde (Lae&#8217;zel), Amelia Tyler (the narrator), Samantha Beart (Karlach) and Neil Newbon. Newbon arguably led the cast &#8211; he also directed some of the performances, including Beart&#8217;s as Karlach &#8211; and was awarded Best Performance at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/baldurs-gate-3-sweeps-the-game-awards\">the 2023 Game Awards, an awards ceremony that Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 dominated<\/a>. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/clair-obscur-is-game-of-the-year-but-what-about-everything-else-here-are-the-winners-of-the-2025-game-awards\">Jennifer English would win that same award two years later for her role as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/a>.) But Newbon hasn&#8217;t featured in a major role since.<\/p>\n<p>He seems to have appeared (I don&#8217;t see confirmation anywhere) in Crimson Desert as boss-encounter-related character Marni; he&#8217;s the AI Darius in Marathon, though he appears in only a few voice logs; and he co-starred with Ben Starr in the smaller-scale psychological horror game Dead Take. He&#8217;s the villain Kurnaz in the recently fully released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/greedfall\">Greedfall<\/a> 2, and he&#8217;s appearing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/epictellers\/starfinder-afterlight\">the crowdfunded Starfinder game Afterlight<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, he told FMVR that: &#8220;I&#8217;ve been doing a lot of work and all of the jobs I&#8217;ve been doing have been wildly different from that [Astarion] in terms of character work.&#8221; Perhaps there&#8217;s a role he&#8217;s worked on that we&#8217;re yet to see.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Baldur&#8217;s Gate III &#8220;I don&#8217;t really want to do that again&#8221; &#8211; Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon says he&#8217;s avoided roles over Astarion typecasting concerns Fangs but no fangs. Image credit: Eurogamer \/ Larian News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Published on March 27, 2026 1 comment Follow Baldur&#8217;s Gate III Neil [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1850594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1850594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1850594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1850594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1850594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}