The passing of the great Lance Reddick sent waves through the Destiny community as fans lost their beloved Commander Zavala. Despite the news of a recent recast for the character, Lance Reddick’s final voice lines are still set to appear in the game.
Following the news that acting legend Keith David would take over the role of Commander Zavala in Destiny 2, Bungie revealed that the character’s original voice is still present in upcoming content. While the character has been recast, Lance Reddick’s final words will be used until the very end.
Bungie announced that the actor’s last recorded lines will be included and “remain untouched for the final release”. This means that the actor’s recordings will not be filled in with edits, AI or any other means.
“Keith David, a prolific actor on the stage and in television, film, and games, will assume the English language voice of Zavala in The Final Shape and beyond,” Bungie announced. “Separately, Lance’s existing lines in-game will remain untouched for the upcoming release.”
Keith David has been a prominent voice in Bungie’s work in the past. While the actor is most known for his music career and acting prowess, David is the iconic voice of The Arbiter, Thel ‘Vadam, in the Halo series, a role he’s reprised all the way up until the character’s last appearance in Halo 5: Guardians.
In the announcement of his Destiny 2 debut, David said: “I am honored to continue the great work of Lance Reddick as Zavala. Lance captured the character's sense of integrity so wonderfully. It is my intention to continue that work.”
Lance Reddick’s work in the video game space is still not fully released. Outside of upcoming Destiny 2 content, the actor has fully voiced Hellboy in an upcoming video game. The actor reportedly finished recording all of his lines prior to his unfortunate passing.
The death of Lance Reddick was a huge blow to the Destiny community. As an avid player himself, even playing on the night of his passing, Reddick was a beacon for the Destiny community that will continue to shine years into the future.
Destiny 2 is available as a free-to-play game on Xbox One, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC. The game can also be played via cloud streaming services such as Nvidia GeForce Now.