Robin Atkin Downes Will Not Reprise His Role as Travis in No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again

Robin Atkin Downes Will Not Reprise His Role as Travis in No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again

Tyler Fischer September 2, 2017 3:08 PM EST

Grasshopper Manufacture has dumped Robin Atkin Downes and picked up a new voice actor for Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again.

Earlier this week, devloper Grasshopper Manufacture announced the next and third game in the No More Heroes franchise, dubbed No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Back.

Upon the announcement and the release of the game’s debut trailer, people across the web noticed that the voice of protagonist Travis Touchdown didn’t quite sound right, with some speculating that there had been a change in the voice actor.

Well, today, Travis Touchdown’s previous voice actor Robin Atkin Downes took to Twitter confirming that he has not reprised his role for the upcoming game.

There’s this sense of doom running down my spine like it’s… Like it’s trying to suck the life out of me! — Robin Atkin Downes (@Robin_A_Downes) September 2, 2017

Extremely disappointed…Whadaya say, bro? Join me. Let’s see how far we can take this. @suda_51 #PerformanceMatters — Robin Atkin Downes (@Robin_A_Downes) September 2, 2017

Robin Atkin Downes continued on Twitter retweeting fans who showed their disappointment after finding out Downes wasn’t returning, as well as drove-home the #PerformanceMatters, all while tagging the game’s popular director Goichi “Suda51” Suda.

Why Downes isn’t returning isn’t exactly clear at the moment, but it appears to be related to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike that reared its head last year. However, this hasn’t been confirmed at the moment, but it’s hard to imagine what else could be at fault.

As many fans pointed out, Downes did a terrific job of bringing Travis Touchdown to life in the previous two games, and in many ways is a key part of the character’s identity. However, at the same time many fans of the series didn’t even pick up on the change in the voice actor in the debut trailer, which is a clear indication that at the very least an able replacement was found.

Downes previous work in video games is exhaustively long and decorated, reprising key roles in the Uncharted series, The Last of Us, Ratchet and Clank, Tomb Raider, Gears of War, Saints Row, and many, many more big and small series. He is perhaps best known though for his work as Kazuhira Miller in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker.

No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again is set to hit sometime next year exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, without Robin Atkin Downes. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the game’s first official batch of artwork for a glimpse into the game’s art direction.