Elias Toufexis and Cissy Jones, Voices For Sam Coe And Andreja, Almost Voiced Player Characters In 'Starfield'

Video Games

Nov 11

In many video games (even big-budget ones), the player character is a so-called silent protagonist who doesn't have any spoken dialogue throughout the game, except for some grunting or screaming. And Bethesda Game Studio’s Starfield is no different.

However, according to Elias Toufexis, the development studio had initially planned to have the player character actually talk. He and Cissy Jones were hired to voice the protagonist depending if the player chooses a male or a female character.

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It's not known why Bethesda ultimately chose to drop the player character’s functionality to speak and return to a silent protagonist but it's possible they regarded the gameplay and the usability as too cumbersome and complicated if the players not only have to select a certain dialogue, but maybe also the tone of the voice.

But when the decision was made Bethesda didn’t simply let Toufexis and Jones go, but offered them the chance to voice other characters in the game, and Toufexis now thanked the company for this move in a tweet.

Yeah it’s true. @cissyspeaks and I were originally the player voices in #Starfield. We worked for months.

When they decided the player should be voiceless they gave Cissy and me Andreja and Sam Coe.

Games NEVER do this. Once you’re out you’re out.

Good on Bethesda pic.twitter.com/QpGoC6YmWn
— ᴇʟɪᴀꜱ ᴛᴏᴜꜰᴇxɪꜱ 🖖 (@EliasToufexis) November 8, 2023

Toufexis now voices Sam Coe, a human space cowboy and former Freestar Ranger, who later became a member of Constellation, the space exploration organization committed to unlocking the secrets of the galaxy.

Jones voices the mysterious character of Andreja, a human woman from the house of Va'ruun who later also joined the Constellation.

Elias Toufexis is a Canadian actor who has been active since 2000. He has appeared in TV shows like Supernatural, Criminal Minds, The Expanse, and - most recently - Star Trek: Discovery, where he will appear as L'ak in the series’ fifth season. His resume also includes voicework for high-profile video games like Assassin’s Creed, Deus Ex, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, The Last of Us Part II and The Walking Dead.

Cissy Jones is an American voice actress who has worked on Legends of Tomorrow, Transformers: EarthSpark and has voiced video game characters since 2010 (Aliens: Colonial Marines, Batman: Arkham Knight, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Half-Life: Alyx).

Starfield was released in September 2023 for Windows and Xbox Series and marks the beginning of a new franchise, like The Elder Scrolls or Fallout

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