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Games like Baldur’s Gate 3 take a long time to make. Between building the digital world and writing the thousands of lines of dialogue that you can encounter in the game, the development time for big narrative titles is surprisingly long. However, some of the actors in Baldur’s Gate 3 came into the process surprisingly late. While the Narrator’s actor spent four whole years recording her dialogue, Samantha Béart only had one year to bring Karlach to life.

The massive discrepancy between recording times was discussed during the Heroes of Baldur’s Gate 3 panel at MCM x EGX in London 2024. Amelia Tyler discussed how she spent four years recording the Narrator’s dialogue, amassing a huge collection of bloopers along the way. Béart was surprised at this, saying that she was only in the studio for one year reading for Karlach.

However, Béart didn’t seem upset by having a shorter time in the studio. “We all did like the same amount but in a much shorter time so it was intenser. So that was great, for a character that is going, ‘But I haven’t got time!’ It was a bit method.”

It makes sense that the Narrator would be in the game from the start. From the very start of Baldur’s Gate 3, Amelia Tyler is there, judging our poor decisions as we make our way across the Sword Coast. However, we’re surprised that Karlach was cast so late in the process. She is introduced quite early in the game and has a huge amount of dialogue. We’re just glad Béart was able to take that intense process and create the urgency we associate with Karlach.

Catch up with all out MCM/EGX 2024 coverage here.