Eidos Montreal Confirms, Explains Stephen Russell's Absence From Thief

In a post on the Eidos Montreal community blog, Narrative Director Steven Gallagher and Audio Director Jean-Christophe Verbert confirmed the fear of many a Thief fan: Stephen Russell will not be taking up the blackjack of master thief Garrett for their upcoming reboot.

They go on to state that Russell had been present for some preliminary recording sessions, but was ultimately passed up for the role because he wouldn't work well with the "full performance capture" which will be used in Thief's story. Full performance capture is defined as a process by which an actor not only records an character's lines, but performs motion and facial capture "all in one take."

This sounds like the same technology being used for the cutscenes in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and interestingly enough, it's this same rationale which led to Michael Ironside being kicked out of the Sam Fisher role (leading to what appears to be Sam's pre-game trip to a Lazarus Pit which has landed him a voice and appearance thirty years younger than in Conviction).

I can't help but wonder, with these two classic actors being replaced due to the needs of full performance capture, whether or not this could become a trend in the industry which would lead to a Hollywood-esque call for pretty people to take up the big roles. I don't see full performance capture widely taking over, but this is at least the second occurrence of it causing a shift in fan favorite actors and I suspect it's not the last.