Bethesda announced that Lucy Lawless will lend her vocal talents to the fantasy coop adventure game.
Millions of nerds remember Lawless for her portrayal of the eponymous character in the syndicated cable show Xena: Warrior Princess which aired in the late 1990s. The show was spinoff of another popular show Hercules and occupied the same universe, with frequent character crossovers between the two. Lawless also appeared in the new Battlestar Galactica on SyFy as the reporter D’Anna Biers, with a mysterious and plot-important background (not to spoil it for any BSG virgins out there.) Now, Bethesda appears to be cashing in on her appeal amongst male and female gamers, as well as her distinguished vocal talents, by casting her as Seraphine, the erstwhile guide to the player characters in Hunted. The fantasy action game with strong RPG and co-op elements is set to release on June 1st on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
“Hunted is an incredibly dark, intense game and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work on such a thrilling project,” Lawless said in a statement. “After playing the heroine for so long it’s refreshing to portray such a villainous, seductive temptress!”
I’ve always enjoyed Lawless’s work, and she certainly doesn’t shy from genre material that other actors might disregard. Her New Zealand background contributes to her mystique, as her accent lends a certain air to her performances. While Hunted is very action-oriented in its gameplay, when I played it at E3 last year I was most impressed with how it portrayed its characters. Lawless will hopefully bring further depth to the relationships in the game to elevate Hunted to be more than just a meaningless dungeon crawl.
