For some reason, famed voice actor Troy Baker isn’t in Borderlands 3, and he’s calling Gearbox out for it. This may sound petty at first until you realize that Baker was in Telltale’s excellent Tales from the Borderlands as the voice of Rhys. Rhys is one of many Tales characters making their way into the main franchise. But, you’d think that Gearbox would bring the voice actor with the character, no?
As reported by GamesRadar, Baker revealed that he wouldn’t be returning during a convention panel in Melbourne, Australia this past weekend. “I’m sorry to break it to y’all, [but] that isn’t me,” he responded to a fan question. Moreover, Baker claims that there were initial talks of returning, but Gearbox apparently went with someone else. The voice actor only found out during the reveal trailer where Rhys appeared:
“If Gearbox decides that they’ll let me do it, that’ll be awesome. I have no idea. There was a possibility that I was gonna be in it, then I saw that epic, epic trailer, and everyone’s like ‘oh my god, there’s Rhys!’ And I went, ‘well, there we go.’” Baker continues, sporting the opinion that many fans are sure to have. “If they’re going to bring back characters from Telltale Borderlands, it should be the people that originated the characters.”
Of course, Baker doesn’t want to be petty or start an online flame war, but he’s understandably sad that someone else has the role. It’s not like he lacks talent or something. “I would love for Gearbox to know that it’s not about me,” he asserts. “It’s about that character.”
Despite fans’ hype, the Borderlands 3 reveal hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. For example, fans are angry that the sequel is a timed exclusive on the Epic Games store. The controversial Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford is happy to “shop in different stores,” but then said he’d do whatever he can to bring Borderlands 3 to Steam as soon as possible. On top of all this, Borderlands 2 went through a review-bombing shortly after the Epic announcement.