The actor Neil Newbon is known for his role as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3. As a Fallout fan, he also applied for a spinoff of the game series. However, when he offered to contribute to the project unpaid, his request was initially ignored by the developers.
Which game is it about? Neil Newbon applied for a voice role in Fallout: London. This is a modification for Fallout 4 in DLC size by “Team FOLON,” which takes you to the UK with a new character.
The team has been working on the mod since 2019 and released it in July 2024. Previously, they had postponed the project, because Bethesda derailed the plans with an update for Fallout 4.
As a Fallout fan, Neil Newbon offered to participate in the project and contacted the team. Apparently, the person who read his request had no idea who he was. The message went unanswered.
Fallout: London is a mod for Fallout 4. Here you can see a trailer:
“Uh, why is Neil Newbon in your inbox?”
Why was Neil Newbon ignored? In an interview with VG247, Dean Carter, the project lead of Fallout: London, explained how the situation arose. Neil Newbon had contacted him on Twitter to express his interest in the project. “We get a lot of such messages, and I just overlooked it,” Carter noted. He also had no idea who Neil Newbon was.
However, his team then saw that he had a message from the actor in the inbox. According to Carter, they practically shouted: “Please respond to this man, bring him on board.” This is how Neil Newbon got a small supporting role in Fallout: London.
Dean Carter recalls how a whole quest emerged from the supporting role:
We essentially gave him a small supporting role, something very small. But he wanted more; he enjoyed playing the character Barry the Boat. The entire Barry-the-Boat quest was essentially Neil Newbon’s idea because he wanted to be more involved with the project. In the end, we had to write this whole quest because he wanted to do more. […] We had a lot of fun working with him.
What does “Astarion” say about it? According to PCGamer, Newbon stated in a conversation with GINX TV that he had sent a request to the team behind Fallout: London. However, it was ignored for “about a year, maybe even two years”. He is a Fallout fan, so he offered to help them. “None of us were paid. We just did it because we wanted to,” said the actor.
In a post on X, Newbon explains in a short video from the Golden Joystick account that Fallout: London is a “really, really stunning mod.” It doesn’t feel like a mod, but more like a DLC.
It is a complete game. “I think it’s a really beautiful love letter to Fallout, which is also one of my absolute favorite game series. And being a part of it was just really cool,” says Newbon in the video.
But his role as Astarion seems to mean a lot to the actor as well. In November 2023, Neil Newbon was awarded at the Golden Joystick Awards for his role in Baldur’s Gate 3. This is an annual awards ceremony for video games in the UK. You can read more about it here: Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion’s voice actor wins an award, gives a touching acceptance speech – “This character means the world to me”
