The Expanse RPG Recasts Its Protagonist After Player Complaints

Owlcat Games—the studio behind upcoming RPG The Expanse: Osiris Reborn—has announced plans to recast the actor voicing its male protagonist, after players complained about a perceived lack of emotion in his voice during the game's beta test last month.

"While the voice actor for the male protagonist and J put in a lot of good work, they felt less expressive than we wanted," Owlcat Games shared in a blog post on Osiris Reborn's Steam page. "Because of this, we are changing the voices of the male protagonist and J."

In The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, players can create their own player character (simply named "You" in the beta) and customize their gender, appearance, and background (Belter, Earther, or Martian). The player-character also has a twin sibling, J, who is voiced by the same actor who voices the protagonist. Based on Owlcat's statements, it seems that only the male protagonist (and thus the male version of J) are being recast, while the actor voicing the female protagonist (and the female version of J) is sticking around.

Interestingly, player feedback in the game's subreddit seems to focus more on the game's need for a dialogue overhaul, some story adjustments, and changes to the player-character's tone rather than complaints about a specific actor's performance.

"Belter Patois is undoubtedly a challenge for the devs but the almost complete lack of Belter slang, the lack of Belter cynicism, [and] the overly cheery delivery of the voice actors' tone are, in my opinion, awful," one player wrote on reddit after checking out the beta test.

Owlcat didn't share the name of the actor being replaced, nor did they share who will be replacing them (it's possible a replacement hasn't been chosen yet). The studio did say that some of J's voice lines are being reworked regardless of what gender players choose.

"We know J's battle cries got a bit repetitive," the dev team shared. "The 'ask' system was still very much a work in progress during the beta, and a full rework has been on our roadmap all along. Still, thank you for pointing it out and sharing your thoughts."
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is currently scheduled to arrive on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X sometime in the Spring of 2027.