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Kiefer Sutherland Is Now Snake

24 and Lost Boys actor taking up the mantle for The Phantom Pain.

No Caption Provided

As part of its pre-E3 show, Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima revealed actor Kiefer Sutherland is the new voice of Snake for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Sutherland is best known for portraying Jack Bauer on the long-running TV show 24. He was pretty sweet in The Lost Boys, too.

One of the reasons Sutherland may have been chosen to portray Snake is the game’s reliance on performance capture for the role.

The previous voice of Snake, David Hayter, tried to take change in sarcastic stride on Twitter.

“Can't fault [Kiefer], “ said Hayter. “Great actor, good man. The game will probably still be excellent. Like New Coke! [...] To my beloved Tweeps, I can't thank you enough for all your support. Getting fired was never so heartwarming.”

MGSV: The Phantom Pain is scheduled for a release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3...someday? A release date isn’t yet known.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

324 Comments

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Xristophoros

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Edited By Xristophoros

@xristophoros said:

Very disappointing news... I had hoped the whole Hayter not reprising his role thing was just a big joke. Casting Sutherland is a mistake. This has more to do with maintaining consistency within the MGS world. This will break the immersion and make the new games feel disjointed. Why change it at this point when the voice of Snake/Big Boss is well defined and works so well? If there was a good reason I would be more understanding, but at this point it just seems like the answer is: "A change was needed". The sense of familiarity and empathy for Snake/Big Boss is lost now since the new voice is not relatable to the player (in the context of the MGS world). In other words, the heart of the character has been removed.

Not necessarily. The headline is misleading, we only know that Sutherland is voicing Big Boss. If these games follow their logical continuity, eventually we will be revising the events of the original Metal Gear where Solid Snake and Big Boss are both central characters. Establishing a new voice for Big Boss now could simply be laying the groundwork for MGSVI or whatever it ends up being. Having Hayter screaming back and forth at himself would be significantly worse.

That's a good point. If this turns out to be the case then it will work out well in the end. We may even see Snake and Big Boss confront each other at the end of MGSV.

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bgdiner

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Kiefer is a good man, great actor and cool guy overall, but it will take some adjustment.

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toowalrus

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The only part of this news that bugs me is that the voice actor remains consistent in the Japanese version, which makes me think this isn't some clever attempt to keep Hayter as Solid Snake (cameo or otherwise) secret and Kojima really is just sick of David's performance. Which bums me out. Kiefer Sutherland is probably going to do great as Big Boss but god damn, it just won't be the same.

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Swiftopian

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Edited By Swiftopian

Don't forget about Phone Booth, bitches.

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JouselDelka

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He voiced the Call of Duty World at War sergeant kind of terribly so this isn't good news in my eyes

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JouselDelka

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@kagato said:

So my theory is, the game is Ground Zeros and seems to be in two parts, you play the first part as Naked Snake/Big Boss voiced by Keifer as you establish outer haven. Then you play the second part as young Solid Snake and you have to take the old man down, effectively making it a retelling of the original Metal Gear. Im maybe being a little too optomisitic but i hope its the case or im probably going to pass on this one, just like Kevin Conroy is Batman, Nolan North is Deadpool, to me David Hayter is Snake.

The franchise considered one of the best ever made, especially for its storytelling and characters, has characters named Big Boss, Naked Snake, and Solid Snake?

Is this a joke? :P big boss? big? boss?

solid snake? solid? and a second snake that is naked? Two characters named snake, one is solid and one is naked?

double you tee eff.

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firecracker22

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Dat profile picture.
Dat profile picture.

That's pretty fucking funny.

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OllyOxenFree

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Edited By OllyOxenFree

He voiced the Call of Duty World at War sergeant kind of terribly so this isn't good news in my eyes

Proper direction can help.

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thatlad

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I'm a big Keifer Sutherland fan but this news really disappoints me. This will be like when an actor plays a real life person, it's jarring. Unless the actor is truly stellar, it's almost impossible not disrupt the immersion.

So while Hayter may not be Snake, to me growing up with that character having that voice, it's going to be like Hayden Christensen playing Sir Winston Churchill in a film.

Okay, well maybe not that extreme but my point is it's a change that is not going to add a great deal but will take a great deal away.

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ThomasG666

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Really?! That's awesome!

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Dallas_Raines

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Edited By Dallas_Raines

@ollyoxenfree: Yeah, actors like Nolan North or Troy Baker will sound great in a game, and then act like a complete ham in a bad anime dub.

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StarvingGamer

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The only part of this news that bugs me is that the voice actor remains consistent in the Japanese version, which makes me think this isn't some clever attempt to keep Hayter as Solid Snake (cameo or otherwise) secret and Kojima really is just sick of David's performance. Which bums me out. Kiefer Sutherland is probably going to do great as Big Boss but god damn, it just won't be the same.

Isn't the Japanese VA like, super popular over there? It may be that they're just playing it the other way around, keeping the big name going in Japan then rolling in someone new as Solid Snake for MGSVI. Or maybe they just felt he could provide them with voices distinct enough to be both Solid Snake and Big Boss without it sounding hokey.

In Japan Snake is basically a dude with a deep voice. Hayter's treatment, on the other hand, is so affected that I doubt it would be possible for him to do both in a similar but different enough way to work. Making a clean break for the two characters may simply have been the better option.

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DonPixel

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everything about MGS is stoopid, including this.

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RoyaleWifCheese

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Edited By RoyaleWifCheese

I'll reserve judgement until they show some footage of Big Boss actually speaking. The GDC trailer was kinda cool and I reasonably enjoyed Guns of the Patriots, so I hope this game plays well.

I trust that Kojima knows what he's doing. It's his vision.

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darklight

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Edited By darklight

@jouseldelka: There's also Liquid snake and Solidus Snake I think both of them are considered the brothers of Solid Snake (well I'm sure for Liquid but I can't remember for Solidus)

They are the produce of a project called Les enfants terribles, a cloning experiment of Naked Snake which became Big Boss after killing his mentor named The Boss. And no... I'm not making this up. If you really did not know then enjoy the glorious Metal Gear lore... :)

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mordukai

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Edited By mordukai

@somejerk said:

Hayter is a goddamn diva though.

All [famous] actors are, to some degree.

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august

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TravisRex

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@travisrex said:

@probablytuna: I think kiefer is a little too old to play snake in any kind of movie.

Even in a movie where he's just sitting down having a smoke?

I could play the part if that's all I have to do. F'yeah.

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maskedarcstrike

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I don't know if this has been mentioned but man does Keifer look skinny these days.

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probablytuna

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@probablytuna said:
@travisrex said:

@probablytuna: I think kiefer is a little too old to play snake in any kind of movie.

Even in a movie where he's just sitting down having a smoke?

I could play the part if that's all I have to do. F'yeah.

You're hired!

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GERALTITUDE

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MGS is too amazing to be passed up. I will miss Dave and wish him the best but Metal Gear here I come!

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arch4non

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Edited By arch4non

I'm still mad. David Hayter is the voice of Snake.

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Danbuca

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Edited By Danbuca

Still slightly disappointed over Hayter but never mind, they'd have to cast Taylor Swift as Snake before I would reconsider my purchase.

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ShinjiEx

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Ground Zero?