I remember the first time I met Sylens while playing Horizon Zero Dawn. For those of you who haven’t played, you hear from him before you meet him. He comes over Aloy’s Focus and speaks to her.
Over the course of the game, you get to know a bit more about who he is, how he knows Aloy and you believe that he is on your side.
One thing Horizon players learn very quickly is that the only side that Sylens is on is his own.
Things carry over into the sequel and when it leaves off, there’s the implication that whatever is coming, Sylens will be in the heart of it.
Shortly before Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC, Burning Shores, released last year, Lance Reddick passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. It shocked movie and gaming fans who loved the man in so many roles.
Reddick was a man who made any role feel like he was born to play it. I best knew him from the Horizon series or from the John Wick films. But over his career, he was one of that actors that brought gravitas to whatever the role.
With his passing, questions began circling the Horizon fandom. What is going to happen in the third game? What will they do about Sylens?
There were options. They could try and write around him. There was speculation that perhaps he’d already recorded some audio for the game and that could be expanded using archival audio to help fill in the blanks.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Sylens will be in Horizon Lego Adventures. That’s not a surprise as the character is in Horizon Zero Dawn and from what we’ve seen it is a remake of the first game.
But instead of using source audio, they recast the role. And when I saw that, I had mixed feelings.
Part of it was a bit of pity for the new actor. After all, Lance Reddick left some pretty big shoes to fill. Whoever fills them will have to bring a lot to the role.
Another feeling I had was annoyance. It felt like that was the easy way out. Instead of using archival audio, they gave the role away. It feels like they gave a piece of Reddick away.
It’s unknown at this time if this new actor will be replacing Reddick on future Horizon installments. We don’t know what Horizon 3 will look like.
I don’t know if I have an answer to my own questions. Do you have thoughts? Should he be recast? Should they work around him? Should they use existing audio to finish out the series?
I’m not sure if someone can fill the role like Reddick did.
But I have to wish the new guy luck.
Featured Image: IMDb
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