The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Is Recasting its Protagonist After Negative Fan Feedback

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be recasting its male protagonist and his twin brother, according to developer Owlcat Games. The developer confirmed that it heard vocal fan feedback regarding the performances of the game’s male protagonist character and his twin brother, prompting them to actually take action.

“While the voice actor for the male protagonist and J put in a lot of good work, they felt less expressive than we wanted,” said the developer in a blog post. “Because of this, we are changing the voices of the male protagonist and J.”

It was noted in a press release that the team is already in the process of searching for a new actor, but it’s unclear how intensive this process will be on the production of the game. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn recently held a beta, which got a mixed response from fans. However, it did provide Owlcat Games with a lot of actionable feedback. Thankfully, the full game isn’t due out until 2027, so there’s plenty of time to address player concerns. Owlcat noted it is also addressing concerns with gameplay, tone, and other quality-of-life elements to improve the game. Fans are hoping that The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be another high-quality sci-fi RPG that can go toe to toe with Exodus next year.

While it’s pretty rare for a game to replace an actor after a game has already been put into the hands of players, this isn’t the first time it has happened. Bungie famously cast Peter Dinklage as the Ghost in Destiny, and he was present in the game for about a year. However, fans complained that it felt like Dinklage was phoning it in, and Bungie replaced him the following year with Nolan North.

There are also a number of cases of actors being replaced before a game’s release. According to Master Chief actor Steve Downes, two new actors were cast to play Chief and Cortana in Halo 4. However, internal feedback was so poor that 343 Industries, AKA Halo Studios, brought the original actors back. A similar incident happened on Hitman: Absolution, when Agent 47 actor David Bateson was replaced by William Mapother. However, IO Interactive changed course and brought Bateson back at the last minute after fan backlash.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.