Jack Bauer, errrm… I mean Kiefer Sutherland has been confirmed as the new voice and motion/facial capture actor for Big Boss, codenamed Naked Snake, in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This comes as no great surprise as Kiefer’s distinct voice can clearly be heard in the GDC gameplay footage demoed earlier this year.
While it’s sad to see long-time Snake voice actor David Hayter be replaced, I can’t think of a better actor to take over the role than Sutherland. It’s also important to keep in mind that Kiefer, as far as we know so far, is voicing Big Boss (and whoever that Ishmael character is). While Hayter had previously voiced all incarnations of the character, he wasn’t the voice of Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid 4–Richard Doyle was.
I have a feeling Hideo Kojima is working his usual trickery and we’ll eventually find out that Hayter will return as the voice of Solid Snake. I mean from what I understand MGS5 takes place around the time when a young Solid Snake should make his first appearance.
As always, there is likely WAY more going on behind the scenes that is being kept tightly under wraps. Kojima’s probably rolling around on the floor laughing at all the gamer rage flooding message boards and comments today.
Watch Konami’s Pre-E3 show embedded in full below for the big Metal Gear Solid V news and more.