We recently sat down with Chris Floyd, co-game director at Deck Nine Games, who are developing Life is Strange: Before the Storm and one of the major talking points was the fact that Ashly Burch won't be reprising her role as Chloe as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike, but instead will help with the writing.
When we first learned about Before the Storm a lot of fans expressed surprise at the change of voice actor. Is that something you expected?
"Yeah, of course, I mean Ashly Burch gave such a wonderful performance as Chloe in the first season, obviously, you know, BAFTA-nominated [laughs], and she's just a fantastic performer. So unfortunately because of the SAG-AFTRA strike she wasn't able to reprise that role, so that's one reason we brought her in as part of our writing team, so she's helping us to write this story, so in the words that Chloe speaks, we're getting her input there. And we've got a wonderful voice actor, Rhianna DeVries, who is playing the role of this younger Chloe, and we can honestly say that fans are going to love her performance. Of course we would have loved to have worked with Ashly Burch as the voice actor, but we're really, really pleased with the work that we're already doing with the help of Ashly in the script."
So does Ashly Burch in a way know the character inside out because she sort of was her, if that makes sense?
"Yeah, yeah absolutely. She really brings a perspective that's really valuable to us, having inhabited that character in the way only an actor can do I think, and so she brought a lot of insight into the way Chloe will see or speak, to the way she sees the world, so that's been a real treat for us and a really benefit to us to have her insight."
For more on Life is Strange: Before the Storm, check out our recent preview.