Baldur’s Gate 3 has finally arrived after a long wait, captivating players with its immersive world and captivating gameplay. Developed and published by Larian Studios, known for their successful Divinity franchise, this Dungeons & Dragons-based RPG has exceeded expectations since its early access release in 2020. With expansive narratives, exploration, and character options, it’s no wonder that Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a hit among gamers.
The voice cast of Baldur’s Gate 3 is truly remarkable, featuring talented actors like J.K. Simmons from Spider-Man, Neil Newbon from Detroit: Become Human, and Maggie Robertson, who gained recognition for her portrayal of Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village. Robertson’s performance earned her the Best Performance Award at the 2021 Game Awards, and she has since taken on other exciting projects like God of War: Ragnarök and Back 4 Blood. In Baldur’s Gate 3, Robertson brings the terrifying character Orin the Red to life, making her one of the game’s most memorable villains.
FilmmakerFocus had the opportunity to interview Maggie Robertson about her role as Orin the Red, her personal connection to gaming, and the significance of portraying villains in storytelling.
FilmmakerFocus: I read in an interview that when you were approaching playing Lady Dimitrescu as a character, you mentioned creating a sense of both an internal and an external rhythm for the character. I’m curious if you approached Orin in the same way, and if so what those two rhythms were?
Maggie Robertson: We’re jumping in hot with the deep cut acting questions, and I love it; I was not expecting us to go so deep right away. I think that my approach to each character changes for each one because each character is very different, and I’m always trying to look at what is unique and specific about this character versus another one. I don’t know if I fully consciously looked at rhythms; I think those are probably subconscious things that are always playing in my mind when I’m working on a character, because it’s a very quick in for me in terms of creating very physically distinctive characters quickly. Instead, I think my conversations around Orin were about her dexterity of thought.
That’s one of the first things that I noticed when I initially got the script is she jumps from thought to thought quite quickly, it’s bananas how she gets from A to Z in one jump. She doesn’t go “A,B,C,” she goes, “A, Z, T, E.” It’s all over the place. So then my work as an actor was, “Okay, how can I create that connective tissue between those thoughts?” And so as a result, I think there developed this lightness around language, this almost childlike playfulness around her use of text, which is a terrifying juxtaposition when the words that you’re actually saying are horrifically gruesome and violent. To have this really childlike sense of play around speaking things that are so atrocious is really quite terrifying.
And so then it really became a conversation about how I can then flip the script on its head and continuously make choices that put the player on the backfoot and invest in the sense of unpredictability about Orin. That’s what makes her so terrifying and unique, I think, is you never know what she’s going to do next. I guess if I had to talk about rhythms for her, it that there’s a light dexterity to her; she pivots so quickly. So I think she’d have to be quite light and indirect, but then the duality – these areas of dissonance are what make characters so unique and so interesting, and that’s where character really resides is when you find that dissonance. On the surface she’s very light and flippant, but then she’s quite driven, and she’s relentless in her pursuit of her goal. So there is a sense of heavy directness, this kind of unavoidable doom that you’re going to experience when you’re with her. I think that is perhaps her interesting duality.
Are there any scenes that stand out to you as being especially rewarding or difficult to get right? I know there’s a lot of stuff that maybe would be a spoiler in that regard, but speaking in more general terms.
Maggie Robertson: Oh, that’s a tricky one. As you said, I obviously don’t want to give away any spoilers, but let’s just say that Orin’s storyline can get very dark. She is always trying to test the player’s limits, so I think just be ready to experience a wide array of gruesome atrocities from Orin. I gotta say the fun scenes for me were when the three villains within Baldur’s Gate, the three main villains, got to come together and I was able to see how these characters interact and what their different roles are within this evil triad. It’s always funny to see how these different types of villains – and this is another thing that I think is interesting about Baldur’s Gate is there are so many different types of villains; General Ketheric Thorm, Gortash, and Orin are very different characters.
What was it like to work with J.K. Simmons and Jason Isaacs?
Maggie Robertson: We weren’t actually physically together; they had pre-recorded their work. But what was cool for me is that because they had already gone in and done their stuff I was able to hear their work already within the game. So then when the characters are interacting, I was able to have their voices in my head and make choices like, “Okay, well, he’s playing it like this, let do this,” so that was the really fun part. And then obviously, just to live in a world where I even get to share scenes with these two titans of the industry is absolutely insane and such an honor and just very exciting for me personally, I love them.
In talking about all the voice actors involved, you worked with Neil Newbon before in Resident Evil Village, what was it like reuniting with him? And I know he worked a little on the directing side as well, so I would love to hear about that.
Maggie Robertson: Neil is one of my all-time favorite voice actors. Working with him again in Resident Evil Village was a joy. Not only is he incredibly talented, but he also contributed to the directing side of things, which added another layer of collaboration to our work. It was a great experience reuniting with him and seeing his skills shine in multiple aspects of the project.
People in the whole wide world. Obviously we worked on Resident Evil together, and I think he literally was the first person I met when I walked on set for Resident Evil and he was so giving and generous with his time and his energy from day one. He had obviously had a lot of experience with performance capture, he does a lot of directing and performance capture so he very much took me under his wing and just was so helpful and like, “Okay, here’s how this works, this is what that means. You want to rehearse the scenes together? Great, let’s rehearse the scenes together, let’s do our lines, let’s make sure we have things really, really solid.”
He’s such a generous person and a generous actor to work with in scenes; it’s always a joy to be with him in any capacity. I got to see him while I was in the studio working on Baldur’s Gate. Unfortunately, he didn’t direct me personally, but I definitely got to hug him and jump into his arms when he walked through the door, and I think he sat in on a few sessions that I was doing while I was there. It was just a joy to be with him and to be a part of the Baldur’s Gate family.
Everyone there is so nice and so generous, and that was one of the hallmarks of that whole experience for me is just how hard they work at Larian and at PitStop to create an environment that really fosters that sense of community and that sense of collaboration between artists. That was really important to me, because you can’t create art alone, it doesn’t happen as a solo act. So it’s really exciting when you’re in an environment with fellow artists and creatives that you can create together with.
Everyone seems to be especially passionate as well. I spoke to Neil last week about his work on the game and the high praise he had for the character that he was playing, for everyone at Larian and PitStop, and for you as well, and not just him but everyone in general seems incredibly passionate about the project and proud of the project.
Maggie Robertson: Yes, and that is what is so unique about Larian, but also what is so unique about the gaming industry as a whole is that everyone working in games – they’re fans. They’re not just the developers, they’re fans of games. They are also avid consumers in the same way that players and our audiences are. So they’re just as excited about this as anybody else, and not only excited for the games that they’re working on, but also the games that everyone else is working on, too.
And Larian Studios specifically, you really can sense the amount of care and the amount of heart that they’re putting into this game. Everyone there is a huge – lovingly – a huge DnD nerd themselves, they were playing the OG Baldur’s Gates. So then everyone is just so dedicated to making the newest installment as top tier, as amazing, as perfect as they can possibly make it. You really sense that heart throughout the entire ecosystem within Larian from start to finish. There’s also such a huge sense of respect between everyone working there too, that everyone really values the artistry and the contributions that everyone else is able to make in addition to their own.
