Voice actors may earn a lot by the hour, but gigs can be few and far between, leading to feast-or-famine situations
Catsuited veterans of Vigrid and Inferno that we are, we felt a real pang on loading up Bayonetta 3 and hearing Bayonetta say her own name at the title screen, for the first time since 2014. There’s something poignant about a long-running series that declares itself this way, as though summoning itself from the fading past. But this isn’t quite the same Bayonetta. The witch’s original voice actress, Hellena Taylor, has been replaced by Jennifer Hale, the nearubiquitous Canadian-American talent behind Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard. Taylor and Platinum have not parted on friendly terms: in the weeks before Bayonetta 3’s release, Taylor posted an emotional video saying she had been offered a mere $4,000 to play the role, and calling on players to boycott the game.