Bethesda Game Studios executive producer Todd Howard originally didn’t like the idea of veteran voice actor Troy Baker starring in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but he came around to the idea after a “blind taste test.”
Baker is best-known for playing Joel Miller in Naughty Dog‘s The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2, but he’s also more generally one of the most prolific and well-known voice actors in the video game industry. He’s now set to play the titular archaeologist in Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but originally, the boss of the whole production directly told him he wasn’t the best choice for the role precisely because his voice is so ubiquitous.
“We felt for this project and the time period it was set in, we cast a pretty wide net,” Howard told Rolling Stone. Bethesda reportedly auditioned hundreds of actors for the part and ultimately decided on Baker, but not without considerable protest from Howard.
Baker told Rolling Stone that when he first met Howard, it was for the role of Indiana Jones, and it was then that Howard straight-up told Baker he didn’t want him to play the part. Howard gave his own account of the story to Rolling Stone, in which he told Baker, “I’ll have you know, we did a blind taste test, and people chose you every time.”
Although Howard is executive producing through Bethesda, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is in development at MachineGames, the studio best-known for the rebooted Wolfenstein franchise. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm Games is overseeing the project to ensure it stays true to the ethos built in the decades since the franchise made its debut in 1981 with Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is due out on Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9, with a PS5 release date expected in early 2025.
In the meantime, here are the best Xbox Series X games you can play today.
