Larian Studios announced earlier this month that Baldur's Gate OGs Minsc and Jaheira will return in Baldur's Gate 3 (opens in new tab). Last week, the studio revealed that Minsc will be voiced by Matt Mercer, best known as the lead DM on Critical Role (opens in new tab), and today confirmed that Tracy Wiles will play Jaheira.

Wiles made the initial announcement via his Twitter channel that he began working in the role in January 2022.

"So happy to have @TracyWiles playing Jaheira in 'Baldur's Gate 3'!" Larian said in a retweet (opens in new tab)." Can't wait for you to meet Jaheira in the game and see the amazing work she does"

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Wiles is a British actor who does not have a significant presence in North America, but has played numerous roles in film, television, stage, and especially radio plays: according to her Wikipedia page (opens in new tab), she has appeared in over 300 plays and comedies and as a video game voice actor She seems to be an ideal candidate.

In fact, she has appeared in numerous video games (open in new tab) before this one, including "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," "Spellforce 3," "Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire," and most recently "Total War: Warhammer 3."

I was a bit disappointed when Mercer was announced as the voice of Minsk instead of the original actor, Jim Cummings. And, to be honest, I feel the same way about Wiles as Jaheira: original actor Heidi Shannon's last credit was in 2001, so it's entirely possible that she is no longer in the business, but it would have been nice to have her back for this iconic role. (To be fair to Larian, Beamdog reportedly tried to recruit Shannon for "Siege of Dragonspear" in 2016, but was unable to locate her (open in new tab)).

Nevertheless, from what little we heard about Wiles as Jaheira in the recent Game Awards trailer, it seems she is definitely the one for the part. I look forward to hearing more soon.

Larian also announced today that they are looking for testers for Act 2 and Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3. However, it appears that these tests will be conducted on-site: according to Larian, they are looking for testers in Ghent, Quebec, Barcelona, Selangor, Dublin, and Guilford.