Baldur's Gate 3's Neil Newbon wants to reprise his role, but when people say 'this character's just like Astarion, would you like to play them?' he's 'like not really, no'

The actor behind Astarion, Neil Newbon, has gone on record as being keen to play Astarion again. Everyone's favourite spawn from Baldur's Gate 3 has stolen hearts (including mine), and you'd be forgiven for thinking Newbon would jump at the chance to play something similar—not so.

In an interview with challenge runner Luality (who has personally impressed Swen Vincke), Newbon explained that while he'll always come back to a role, he doesn't want to get typecast as a flamboyant vampire forevermore.

I interviewed Neil Newbon! (Astarion's Actor) - YouTube

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"I like to stretch myself, I like to play, I like to do different roles all the time. For instance, I'd love to play Astarion again, but I wouldn't necessarily enjoy playing an Astarion-like character."

Not that it hasn't been on the table, as Newbon explains: "I have people approach me saying, 'Oh this character's just like Astarion, would you like to play them?' And I'm like, 'Not really, no'."

This leads to an anecdote about a sapient drier, where Newbon is keen to emphasise that a household appliance with pecs is very different from a vampire spawn in the Forgotten Realms. We all get those mixed up.

In seriousness, though, listening to Date Everything's Drysdale, I can see the similarities. He's even got a frilly shirt. However, Newbon looked to British comedy staple Blackadder for inspiration:

"We wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to fall into the Astarion trope too much. So I based him on an actor called Rik Mayall who does this wonderful character called Lord Flashheart in Blackadder … It was enough of a jump away from Astarion that it was very cool to play, it was really fun."

As to why Newbon wants to keep switching it up, he explains that "especially in film and TV—the danger is that people end up playing the same role, because people like playing that role. Whereas I think for game actors … we get to take our faces off, which means we get to be more of a character, we get to play the characters we'd probably never get given in live action. So for me that's amazing."

Newbon's definitely kept that up since, playing a fish named Fibonacci in Warframe and, most recently, struggling actor Chase Lowry in the horror game Dead Take. And an anthropomorphised drier you can kiss, let's not forget that.

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