Neil Newbon On Becoming Astarion In Baldur’s Gate 3
“We have a companion character support group on Whatsapp,” Baldur’s Gate 3 and Resident Evil Village actor Neil Newbon tells me. “I think I created that a couple of days before release because I kinda knew what was going to happen. In a way. I didn’t know it was going to be this big, but I knew it was going to be interesting because I’ve been involved with Resident Evil and Detroit: Become Human, so I’ve seen how big these things can become.”
From the moment we jump into a call together, it’s obvious that Newbon is a born performer. It isn’t rare for him to jump into an impromptu impression of his beloved vampire character or playfully lean into a tangent about a field he has so much love for. With the unparalleled success of Baldur’s Gate 3, however, his career has launched him and his fellow cast mates into an unexpected spotlight. One he is taking well in his stride.
“I thought the character would be well received, but not in the same scale he’s taken off,” Newbon laughs. “I really enjoy meeting people who play the game, I’m lucky in that I do conventions, online stuff, and I stream as well, so it’s really nice to hear people’s stories about their version of the game because it can go a multitude of infinitely different ways.”
Newbon describes the joy of engaging with those who lap up his work, since a large number of VA roles are often performed in isolation, with actors moving onto the next gig in order to make a living, instead of sticking around to smell the roses. Baldur’s Gate 3 was different, and likely the first taste of tangible, global fame for much of its cast. Newbon is welcoming this newfound celebrity status, even as he tries to keep his feet on the ground while using his influence for the right reasons. Very much the opposite of a guy like Astarion.
“I get a lot of trans men coming up to me,” Newbon explains. “Which I think is amazing, not just for Astarion, but Heisenberg as well. I’m really blown away by that, and I feel humbled by it all. I have had a lot of young kids talk to me about comfort characters, and it’s meant a lot to people. It’s really amazing, humbling, and something I wasn’t quite prepared for. But I love it.”
Suddenly being viewed as an object of inspiration by thousands also brings your own self-worth to the surface, something Newbon seems keenly aware of: “It’s been an interesting lesson in maintaining one’s humility when one gets a lot of attention in communities, in press, or what have you. I tend not to read too much because it’s healthy for one’s ego to remain. It’s your story now, it’s your world, and you should enjoy that. I should step back because I’ve done my job.”
Newbon is quick to expand on his earlier comment on trans fans and how Astarion has now become a particularly resonant character among the queer community, with many seeing the vampire as either a comfort character or a man battling with trauma that is relevant in myriad ways fans can project their own plight onto. “The big thing for me identifying with Astarion is that he’s pansexual,” Newbon admits. “He’s attracted to anybody that he’s attracted to, and he loves anybody that he will love. I think that’s a beautiful message, especially these days when we’ve seen great strides in the LGBTQ+ community, but also seen this unfortunate right wing sweep back against us, especially in America where we’ve seen horrendous laws come into effect. It’s important to keep pushing the message forward that you should love who you want to love, and that shouldn’t be an issue, and nobody should judge you for it.”
He eagerly delves into Astarion’s complicated character, and how his abundant, freeform queerness seen throughout Baldur’s Gate 3 represents an expression of one’s self which lends so beautifully to complicated arcs and romantic storylines.
Astarion is absolutely an ally to anybody that wishes to have their freedom, because that’s what they deserve.
This alone goes a long way to explain why millions are so obsessed with him. “Astarion can love anybody equally, and also manipulate anybody equally,“ Newbon says with a loud laugh. “And befriend everyone equally, because that’s also an option. You don’t have to pursue romance, you can be his friend, and a very close one at that. It’s important to normalise those things in games, media, film, and TV to mark an evolution of our society to what it should be – which is you live your life how you want, we support you, and we love you.
When it comes to the sort of character Newbon can see Astarion growing close to, he’s still holding back judgment given his own in-progress playthrough. Many see a spark between him and Karlach, which catches the actor by surprise as I mention it. “They’re both trapped by their own natures in a way, which is very interesting. But the honest answer is that I just don’t know.
“It’s really about the player’s interactions with them. If you’re Karlach as an origin character I can see that being a very interesting pairing, but again it comes down to the player, it’s their own headcanon. So, however the player wants to explore that is fully up to them. I don’t really have an inclination because, *Astarion voice* I love everybody. I love them all my darling. Why pick one cereal when you have one of those mini packs with all of them, darling? It’s the variety pack, darling!”
Newbon praises the versatility of the script penned by lead Astarion writer Steven Rooney and the directional leadership he was performing to. Even as I poke and prod happily at his own career and achievements, the conversation always comes back to those who made this game, its characters, and the playground Newbon is free to experiment in a possibility in the first place. It’s a team effort, which is true for the majority of video games.
“They let me explore the heavier stuff and take it in an interesting direction,” Newbon says. “On one level you have this sort of feckless, decadent, hedonistic vampire who is almost a caricature. But the fact that’s just a cover, that this is a facade that he’s wearing to defend, protect himself against the fact that he’s deeply traumatised, is in a lot of pain, and has now tasted freedom for the first time and is taking his shot to do everything he can. Even if this means manipulating everybody around him or destroying everything around him and that he touches to be free, is a very fascinating character to play.”
You can hurt Astarion and you can put him in a situation that is actually very akin to his trauma, and actually lose him. But it’s a very grown up, interesting, very adult and very well written series of relationships.
Vampires are frequently framed in a specific light in the majority of media we consume, while Astarion leans into such clichés while doing everything in his power to also subvert them. Newbon puts on an initially camp and haughty exterior that hides something far deeper, that only through several hours of play and a willingness to listen can players eventually unearth. “It flips the idea of what that decadent vampiric character actually is. They aren’t that, it’s a cover or a disguise. What they are is something more awful and how they’re actually the beast of the addiction to need blood all the time, the hunger, and also the trauma on top of that is quite an amazing combination of things for an actor to play with. Because it gives you so much depth and so many different places to explore. The fact we have multiple pathways through every single scene was also an amazing experience because I got to play every possibility.”
Newbon mentions an initial worry of people writing Astarion off at first, since his outward personality is a snobby vampire who doesn’t want to fuck you, but get to know him and the depth that awaits is astounding. Much like Astarion himself, love for his character was born out of players willing to give him a second chance. One that very few in life are afforded.
“I’ve definitely had moments in my life or experiences where I’ve made a judgment,” Newbon says. “We all have. We’ve all had these moments where we’ll make a judgment about what we see, and it’s only the people who ultimately will matter to us who will make the effort to go a little bit further in, and they find something they like about us. Then they become friends or lovers or partners or whatever it is they end up being to us. The first hit of somebody is quite interesting because it takes a developed person to go, ‘That’s what the judgment looks like, I’m just gonna sit here and see if I’m wrong.’ That’s what being non-judgmental is isn’t it? To make a judgment and to see if you’re wrong, because we all make judgments all the time.”
Astarion pushes past those boundaries, inviting those he trusts enough to breach his initial theatrics to discover exactly what defines and troubles him. Many characters in BG3 share similar levels of depth, requiring multiple playthroughs to see all of their stories be told.
When asked how Astarion would fit into the world of British soap opera Hollyoaks, Newbon simply tells me that „they wouldn’t let him in.“
Jumping back to Astarion’s perspective on relationships, romance, and intimacy, it’s a part of his character that you can’t help but gravitate towards. There is an inherent sensuality to the bite of a vampire, a consensual sucking of the blood that you can partake in throughout the game. Like most of the characters, Newbon worked with an intimacy coordinator to bring many of these instances to life, something he was initially surprised by, but views as a step in the right direction for the medium.
“The fact there was an intimacy coordinator available for any actor that wanted it, and the fact it came from Larian and Pitstop Productions talking and deciding with the directors and everybody on the cast that this was an appropriate thing to do, tells you that the attitudes towards sex in games has definitely shifted to being substantially more grown up, and with that it became more responsible as well,” Newbon explains. “There’s also lots of playfulness, obviously. Sexuality is playful in that way, and I think it’s good that we captured everything.
“We captured people being hurt emotionally, people being in love, losing themselves a little bit, and people just having sex because they want pleasure. And being very grown up about those conversations. Because that’s real life. People have sex because they want to have sex with people, and sometimes they get hurt emotionally, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes people are manipulated, and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes people fall in love and have the most incredible lives together, because they slept together one time.”
Newbon draws a compelling parallel between the liberating nature of sex in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how abusing this aspect of relationships can even surface key insecurities found across Astarion’s character arc. How sex is no longer a win condition at the end of a long campaign.
“You can have sex with the characters before you really get to know them,” Newbon points out. “And then you get to know them. So it doesn’t stop like, ‘You’ve had sex! That’s your big reward, and you get an achievement pop up that says, yay sex!’ it’s actually like, okay, good for you, you’ve got a sex and had sex with everybody. It’s more like – yes, you’ve had sex, but now what? Now what do you do? Now what do you talk about? How is your relationship developing, and then you get into this very interesting thing in that you can hurt people. You can hurt Astarion and you can put him in a situation that is actually very akin to his trauma, and actually lose him. But it’s a very grown up, interesting, very adult and very well written series of relationships throughout the game that are very real. And then it’s not just sex, it’s actually way more than that. Sex is almost like a starting point for some of the characters.”
To bring our chat to a close, I ask Newbon what exactly he thinks so many people love in the character of Astarion, and what brought the slutty vampire so close to his own heart:
“I don’t know is the honest answer,” Newbon admits. “Obviously, I have to love my character, but the one thing that I really attached myself to really early on was his desire to be free, and what that means for a sentient being. All these characters, and they’re different races, but they are all human stories underneath them. So what is it to be free, genuinely free to be who you are and love who you want to love and act the way you wish to act?
“All of that drew me to caring for him a lot. But I’m not going to protect Astarion. That isn’t my job, my job is to go on this journey with him. But I’m definitely going to hug him the whole way, and I’m definitely going to hold onto him, and try to be with him, honestly, for every single step of the journey.”
