Troy Baker responds to Randy Pitchford’s comments about him turning down Borderlands 3 role

Last week, Gearbox head Randy Pitchford addressed Troy Baker’s desire to reprise his role as Rhys in Borderlands 3, suggesting that the veteran voice actor and Tales from the Borderlands alum had previously declined the role. Baker has since rebuked these comments, poking holes in Pitchford’s potentially inconsistent story by saying he didn’t check his facts.

Baker has made it abundantly clear that he feels character roles from previous games should be filled by the people who originally voiced them, going on record to say that he would “love to come back” numerous times. In his latest interview with OnlySP, Baker stated that Gearbox specifically turned him down, telling him that he is “not coming back.”

“Their timeline tells an interesting story,” Baker says, addressing the comments made by the Gearbox CEO. “I think it’s interesting that Randy Pitchford tweeted out that I turned it down, and then he said he heard that I turned it down. I would fact check before I tweeted out to the internet.”

You’ll have to ask Troy. I was told by the audio director that he turned it down. Fortunately, with how Rhys appears in the game, I don’t think it actually matters at all. You’ll see for yourself when the game comes out and you may disagree with me on that or not.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 10, 2019

Pitchford’s latest input in the story passed the blame onto Borderlands 3’s audio director, who reportedly was the one that told him Baker had turned down the role. The director goes on to offer some consolation for fans of the character that are worried about the sudden change by stating that he doesn’t “think it actually matters” with “how Rhys appears in the game.”

It isn’t clear whether this is because of the character’s older age, his amount of cybernetics potentially increasing or an event that’s yet to be revealed. Either way, it’ll do little to comfort fans of Baker’s performance and those that feel uncomfortable at Gearbox’s reported snub should the voice actor’s word be taken for granted.

Borderlands 3 launches on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Epic Games Store on PC. Fans of the Steam Store will have to wait around six months to get their hands on the game.

KitGuru Says: This is a messy situation, but I ultimately agree with Baker’s sentiment that facts should be checked before publicly commenting. As the head of Gearbox, Pitchford’s words carry weight, meaning he should always be treading carefully in delicate or messy situations.

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