Actors supporting AI protections didn't know they were being replaced in Zenless Zone Zero update 1.6: "I found out the role was recast today alongside all of you"

Update - March 12: In a statement posted to Twitter, recording studio Sound Cadence addressed concerns regarding "how we work with our voice actors" and affirmed that "every contract at our studio features explicit AI protections, regardless of union status."

Commenting on the Zenless Zone Zero recasting more directly, but still slightly indirectly, Sound Cadence adds: "The decision to recast talent on any project is not made lightly. While sometimes our hands are tied as to what we can communicate and when, we understand how personally actors take their roles, and always want to ensure that no one is ever blindsided. Our studio has and will continue to honor legacy casting on all projects we've inherited whenever possible, and always reach out to actors to reprise their roles before investigating any other options."

The studio added that it respects "the decision of all actors in navigating the ongoing strike and fully support SAG-AFTRA in its AI negotiations," stressing the value and importance of "real, human actors."

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Zenless Zone Zero update 1.6 arrived yesterday, March 11, and alongside new characters like Anby: Soldier 0 and Pulchra, it brought new English voices and voice actors for two existing characters: Soldier 11 and Von Lycaon. The original actors behind those characters, respectively Emeri Chase and Nicholas Thurkettle, who've both vocally supported the ongoing SAG-AFTRA video game voice actor strike demanding AI protections, say they weren't notified of the recasting until patch notes were released at update time.

"I knew that by withholding work it was possible I'd be replaced, though of course I hoped they would choose to leave her silent until I was able to return," Chase said in a tweet. "I found out the role was recast today alongside all of you."

Thurkettle, who isn't a member of the SAG-AFTRA union, said in a tweet of his own: "Proxies - I'm learning about this as you are and I share your shock. Neither HoYoverse nor [recording studio] Sound Cadence has communicated with me since October. I've been fully available and recorded multiple voice jobs in that time. I am trying to learn more and absorb this news."

"I'm not SAG but what game companies want to do with AI is an existential threat," Thurkettle added later, sharing Chase's thread. "I took a personal stand to ask for protection, and had to be willing to give up the best thing that's ever happened in my professional life. I stand by my choice."

Chase clarified that "I was replaced as Soldier 11 because I am unwilling to perform work not covered by a SAG Interim Agreement during a strike for AI protections, the outcome of which will determine the future of our industry."

While the recasting apparently came abruptly, it's currently unclear what prior conversations Chase, Thurkettle, Sound Cadence, and HoYoverse may have had regarding their roles and work timeline before they were recast. Obviously, these actors knew their characters weren't being voiced, and Chase directly acknowledged that she knew she might be replaced, but it's less obvious how this was discussed behind the scenes.

This gets into the somewhat complicated relationship between Zenless Zone Zero creator HoYoverse itself, the recording studios hired by HoYoverse to supply English voice over, and the actors hired by those studios to record, to say nothing of the varying contract restrictions of union and non-union voice actors on different projects under different studios. It's a bit of a mess, and a bit of a rock and hard place situation: actors want to work, but they also want to protect their work in the long run. The fact that this strike is still ongoing after many months, even with an interim agreement as patchwork, only complicates things further.

Chase stressed the differences between projects. "Union projects that began work prior to the strike & non-union projects are not 'struck,'" she said. "But they also do not offer the Union-enforced AI rights we are fighting for. Many actors are choosing to voluntarily withhold work on these categories of projects because we feel it is the best way to support the Union's fight for the protections that are critical to our continued ability to create the art we love."

Multiple HoYoverse games, including Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, have been missing English voice performances for several updates as a result of conflicting "recording arrangements" seemingly tied to actors, union or non-union, withholding work in a show of solidarity and support for long-term sustainability and protection against AI. As Thurkettle acknowledged earlier in March, "We share a deep love for our Wolf Thiren butler [Lycaon] and can't wait to hear him speak again."

HoYoverse has seemingly elected to seek out alternate studios or arrangements with English actors not withholding work to fill the gaps, though the exact terms aren't clear. I've contacted HoYoverse and Sound Cadence for comment on the situation and their stance.

Before the strike in 2023, HoYoverse said it supported Genshin Impact voice actors seeking alleged unpaid wages from another contracted studio, Formosa. "This wouldn't happen if the game was union," Paimon voice actor Corina Boettger notably said at the time. "Tell them to make the game SAG."

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