Lance Reddick's Beloved Character Recast After Actor's Death

Reddick's role in Destiny 2 gets a worthy successor.

By Ashley Turner

A popular character played by the late Lance Reddick has been recast. Following the actor's untimely death earlier this year, it was announced that veteran actor Keith David would take over Reddick's role as Commander Zavala in the video game Destiny 2. "Lance's iconic voice led us through the most intense moments in Destiny's history and his impact on our Guardians, our community, and Bungie as a whole will never be forgotten," video game company Bungie announced on Aug. 10. "Keith David, a prolific actor on the stage and in television, film, and games, will assume the English language voice of Zavala in The Final Shape and beyond. Separately, Lance's existing lines in-game will remain untouched for the upcoming release." David has appeared in a wide variety of films, including The Thing, Platoon, and Nope. But he is also a voice actor with an extensive background in video games, where some of his best-known roles are as Arbiter in Halo 2 and Captain David Anderson in Mass Effect. "I am honored to continue the great work of Lance Reddick as Zavala. Lance captured the character's sense of integrity so wonderfully," he said in a press release. "It is my intention to continue that work."

According to a statement issued by Bungie, "the team is excited for what [Keith David] brings to the role of the Commander. We will always remain respectful to the role Zavala has played thus far, and look forward to the journey ahead." In March, Reddick died at the age of 60. He had played prominent roles in HBO's The Wire, the John Wick movies, and Bungie's Destiny series. During Destiny's early years, he served as the Titan Vanguard. It has been almost a decade since Reddick was a daily presence in the lives of Destiny players (especially Titans). Zavala is an indispensable figure within Destiny's Tower and plays a key role in the plot. Not only was Reddick a great talent within the Destiny 2 community, but he was also an avid Destiny 2 fan as well. Players flocked to the sci-fi MMO's main social hub to pay their respects after he was found to have been playing shortly before his death. 

In a February 2022 interview with Polygon, Reddick talked about where he saw the future of Commander Zavala and his dedication to the game itself. "Well, first of all, it's funny, because in one of my more recent recording sessions, I actually asked them if they were killing me off," said Reddick in an email. "To which they replied with an answer. (Obviously I'm not gonna say what it is [winky-face emoji]). At any rate, in some ways it's hard for me to get a gauge of my Zavala's character arc over the years because working on the game has been so sporadic in the midst of the rest of my acting career, but also because, although I play Destiny almost every day (I'm even part of a clan now), once I've played through each iteration of the game, as time goes on I kind of forget about the story and just focus on powering up and getting cool weapons and grinding through playlists. At the end of the day, I'm just a big fan who also happens to voice one of the characters."

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