Nolan North Replaces Peter Dinklage in Destiny as Ghost
The Taken King is set to introduce a number of changes to Destiny, along with the large amount of new content the DLC expansion brings. One of these will see a change to the voice acting currently in the sci-fi shooter, with Nolan North replacing Peter Dinklage as the character of Ghost. Bungie has officially said that the change has been made to ensure that the character has a unified voice throughout the entire game, rather than different actors for different pieces of content.
However, the decision probably also had something to do with the less than enthusiastic response to Dinklage’s performance. Almost immediately after the release of the beta for Destiny last year, Bungie revealed that they were going to re-work the audio of Ghost in order to improve it after criticism from players. The new, more robotic, sound didn’t exactly prove a huge success either though, with the lines read with what appeared to be very little effort. That might have had something to do with the less than remarkable and frankly uninspiring script rather than Dinklage in particular.
Nolan North is an experienced voice actor, having played major roles in Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Spec Ops: The Line and The Last of Us. Most notably, he was cast as the voice of Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series and has received plaudits for his work.
Speaking to Game Informer, creative director for The Taken King, Luke Smith, revealed the reasoning behind the change, saying: “We wanted Nolan North’s version of the Ghost to wake you up at the start of the journey at level one and follow you all the way to level forty.
“They really wanted me to put my stamp on it,” Nolan North said. “They let me bring what I wanted to the role. You have to give it your own spin. For that reason, I specifically said I didn’t want to hear anything that someone else had done, so that I didn’t have some preconceived notion of what it has to be. Instead, I just gave it my stamp, and let them direct me accordingly.”
“I’m hoping we’re doing this for years. If I get a chance to continue with the role, I think we can evolve Ghost as we move forward over the years. In the same way that the player learns about the game and the world, maybe the Ghost grows with them.”
Destiny: The Taken King arrives September 15 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360.