Lego Horizon Adventures is recasting Lance Reddick's character Sylens after the actor died in March 2023.
Sylens is the deuteragonist of Horizon Zero Dawn and a returning character in its sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. He allies with protagonist Aloy to discover the truth behind the machines and the fate of the Old Ones.
Guerrilla Games' senior world artist Lucas Bolt told IGN that, while Sylens will appear in Lego Horizon Adventures, he will be played by someone new.
"Lance Reddick tragically passed away in 2023, and he is deeply missed within Guerrilla and our community," Bolt told IGN as part of our final preview of Lego Horizon Adventures.
"He wonderfully portrayed the essential character of Sylens in Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. The character of Sylens does appear in LEGO Horizon Adventures, and we will introduce the new actor at a later date. Hearing the voices of other original actors including Ashly Burch as Aloy, JB Blanc as Rost, John Macmillan as Varl and John Hopkins as Erend has really brought back the tone of comradery found in the original game."
Recasting Sylens may seem like a necessity given Reddick's death but the developers could have taken different routes. Lego games have previously pulled dialogue straight from the source material, for example, and artificial intelligence was used to replace a voice actor in Cyberpunk 2077 following his death.
Recasting perhaps suggests this new actor, as Sylens, will appear in future Horizon games, though nothing has been confirmed on this front yet. Guerrilla is working on a live service Horizon Online multiplayer game, with Horizon 3 potentially a ways off. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered launches at the end of October.
Reddick, who was also known for his roles in John Wick, Destiny, and The Wire, passed away suddenly from natural causes on March 17. The entertainment and video game industries paid tribute to the actor following his death, with many major names coming forward to share their love.
Guerrilla Games included a tribute to Reddick in Horizon Forbidden West too, with an in-game memorial built for him in an area available through the Burning Shores expansion.
Image credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
