Master Chief Actor Says Halo 4 Almost Recast His Role And Cortana’s With New Voice Actors

Since Halo: Combat Evolved debuted on the original Xbox in 2001, Steve Downes is the only actor to have voiced Master Chief in the video games that followed. Actress Jen Taylor has had the same longevity as Master Chief’s AI companion, Cortana. However, according to Downes, he and Taylor were briefly replaced by other performers during the development of Halo 4.

Downes recently shared the story of his recasting on his YouTube channel. As the actor recalls, neither he nor Taylor were aware that 343 Industries–which took over the Halo franchise from Bungie–had already cast new performers for Master Chief and Cortana. According to Downes, testers complained about not feeling connected to the new voices for those iconic characters. But before Downes could return, he had to audition for the role he made famous.

Downes and Taylor have remained firmly in place ever since, and the latter even reprised her role as Cortana on the Halo TV series on Paramount+. In response to Downes’ story, Generalkidd reposted a clip from a Halo 4 build that features noticeably different voices for Master Chief and Cortana. However, Generalkidd points out that this may have been a temp track and unrelated to Downes’ account about the actors who were chosen to replace them.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, while Halo 2 turned 20 as fans were finally able to play the game’s E3 2003 demo. 343 Industries also rebranded itself as Halo Studios, and announced that future Halo titles will now be developed in Unreal Engine 5.