Neil Newbon's Relationship with the Astarion Role is the Right One

There’s a version of this article in an alternate universe where an actor plays an iconic character and never quite escapes him. It happens all the time in the entertainment industry: one breakout role becomes “the” role, and everything else in an actor’s career starts to orbit around it. That’s an inherent risk with a performance as nuanced, beloved, and instantly recognizable as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, portrayed by BAFTA-nominated actor Neil Newbon. Yet somehow, Newbon has managed to pull off an amazing balancing act: he’s embraced the character fully without letting it define the limits of his career.

Newbon’s balance does not happen by accident. It is intentional, thoughtful, and an approach that favors risk over repetition. It is an approach borne of an understanding of what Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Astarion means to him and to players, while recognizing what the pale elf should not become.

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Playing Baldur’s Gate 3’s Astarion Is a Career Highlight, Not a Creative Ceiling

Newbon speaks about Astarion with a kind of reverence that makes it clear how much the role matters to him. In a chat with Dungeons & Dragons ahead of a live play session at Magic Con 2025, he put it quite plainly: “It’s been one of the best roles that I’ve ever played in my entire life. (…) I’m not ready to let go of him.”

Fit the 9 games into the grid.

This statement is music to Astarion fans’ ears. In the time since Baldur’s Gate 3′s final patch, fans have flocked to forums and fandom spaces craving official content that confirms that the pale elf still thrives. A return to the role would shake those corners of the web. But before those fans get too excited about seeing the beloved actor embrace the role, Newbon has been explicit about the boundaries he’s set around casting. He is an actor who portrayed Astarion, not the “Astarion actor.”

Refusing to Be “The Astarion Guy”

astarion from the book of hungers dnd book

If there’s one thing Newbon has made clear, it’s that he’s not interested in playing watered-down versions of the same character over and over again. In an interview with FRVR, he explained:

“I’ve definitely avoided a few roles recently, not because they were bad projects or anything, just because (…) they kinda want the Astarion thing (…) I don’t really want to do that again. It’s too close to the character I’ve already done, I don’t think I could offer anything necessarily that’s interesting to this particular character. (…) Not to say that the voice isn’t similar (…) I’m talking about when people say: ‘This character’s just like Astarion!'”

Baldur’s Gate 3 Was a Highlight in Newbon’s Thriving Career, With More to Come

Newbon’s recent and upcoming projects make it pretty clear that his career is metamorphosing into brilliance. He’s continuing to stay attuned to performance-driven, character-heavy work, but not in a way that feels like copy-paste casting. His upcoming projects also show an incredible range — in genre, in tone, format, and performance choices:

Marathon
Dead Take
Crimson Desert
Newbon joins the Starfinder: Afterlight cast as Preach
Involved in Evolutis: Duality
Starring in Wizards of the Coast’s official actual play series, Dungeon Masters

But despite this incredible lineup and the inevitable unannounced projects we still don’t know about, there is still a deep love and recognition for Astarion and the impact he’s had on Newbon’s acting career. So, a reprise of this role is not out of the question. In an interview with Nerdist, Newbon stated:

“I’d love to keep playing (Astarion) in different things. I don’t get to choose that. But one thing I would love to do is play him live-action (…) I also look like him, which is very useful.”

With Craig Mazin’s Baldur’s Gate 3 series in development with HBO, Astarion’s return may potentially unite with Newbon’s wishes. It’s one of the rare cases where casting continuity wouldn’t just be fan service, but it would make creative sense. And under these circumstances, returning to the role would be a welcome choice instead of chasing the typecast.

The Bowie Approach

Astarion Early Concept Art From Artwork from Baldur's Gate 3

In an interview with The Escapist, Newbon named the inspirations that fueled Astarion’s theatricality. Giles Foreman, Rueben Kaye, Arlecchino, commedia dell’arte, a stray cat that visits Newbon’s garden — the performance has nothing short of sources. And yet, it seems that inspiration does not limit itself to the roles Newbon plays but extends to his career as well.

The FRVR conversation cited above embodies a refusal to be boxed. In that same interview, Newbon cited David Bowie as a creative influence: “Bowie is an artist that completely reinvented himself. I think he understood that extreme repetition breeds stagnation as an artist.” This philosophy explains a lot about how he’s navigating post-Baldur’s Gate 3 success.

Newbon has stated in a conversation with GameRant that playing Astarion was a risk. And there is risk involved in any role that any actor undertakes: from Astarion to Dungeons & Dragon‘s Vecna. However, the greatest risk may be stagnation. Instead of chasing what worked, he’s stepping sideways, confident that success comes in many forms.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Gave Newbon a Defining Role, Not a Limiting One

It would be easy for Newbon to lean all that way into Astarion and ride that vampiric wave as far as it goes. He has no shortage of fans who would line up for it. But there is something so impressive about choosing not to.

The truth is that Astarion doesn’t lose anything by Newbon stepping away from imitators. It actually preserves what made the performance special in the first place. It keeps it from being diluted. Astarion works because of his writing in BG3, his contradictions, and his arc. To strip that down to “sarcastic vampire with charm,” would be to cheapen that impact.

If Newbon returns to the role — whether that’s in live-action, Baldur’s Gate 4, or something else entirely — it will feel earned because the moment called for it. And if he doesn’t? What a privilege we fans have: witnessing the momentous career of an inspired actor who will inevitably give us more characters to fall in love with.