Astarion's actor knew he'd romance his own character in Baldur's Gate 3 over two years ago: "Why would you not?"

Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian)

Astarion's actor said that he's romance his own character in Baldur's Gate 3 as far back as 2021.

Last week, an old clip of actor Neil Newbon went resurfaced. Seen below, the actor was asked in an audience Q&A video in 2021 whether he'd be romancing his own character, Astarion, when he eventually played the game, and his answer was an emphatic "yes!"

Well, that's not entirely true. "I'm going to give you two answers," Newbon's comment actually begins. "One will be 'no that would be very ego-centrical, I'd probably end up making a Thief so I didn't have to interact with myself,'" says Newbon as a more professional answer.

"Second one is 'yes!"' exclaims Newbon, revealing his more personal feelings towards romancing his own character. "Of course! Why would you not?" Newbon continues, before teasing slyly that he knows Astarion's "triggers," so he knows exactly what to say to get him into bed.

Newbon has a lot of fans from the clip going viral on Twitter. "2021 neil was so real for that," writes one fan in response. "seems he chose option 2," adds another comment, pointing to how, yes, Newbon actually has romanced his very own character in his ongoing Let's Play series of Baldur's Gate 3, which you can catch over on his YouTube channel.

The list of shenanigans with Baldur's Gate 3's cast is as long as my arm at this point. We've had Shadowheart's real-life partner declaring her love for Lae'zel in a heated livestream, and we've even had Newbon getting bitten to death by Astarion in a livestream moment gone horribly wrong. 

More recently, Baldur's Gate 3's devs have pledged to give Astarion a new kissing animation, which he very badly deserves. 

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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