With Platinum recently hinting that Bayonetta 3 is still in the works, and has not been abandoned, fans are naturally trying to get as many details on the project as they can. However, Bayonetta’s voice actor, Hellena Taylor, is dropping cryptic hints that she may not be voicing the character for very much longer. She’s implied something may happen to take her away from the role in a few separate tweets, which of course brings several possible scenarios to mind.
A fan tweeted Taylor saying, “I can’t imagine Bayonetta without your amazing voice” to which Taylor responded, “Well you might have to” and said she wasn’t at liberty to say more. Another fan said Bay would be nothing without Hellena, which led Taylor to say, “I so wanna answer that one but I’m bound by confidentiality agreement.” Naturally, fans are in knots over what this may mean.
Note that she’s not saying Bayonetta will no longer be in games, nor that the character will die or something like that, just that fans may have to imagine the character without Taylor’s voice. The fact that she also says she’s bound by contract not to say anything more also invites speculation because if she was simply retiring from voicing the character for personal reasons, there’s no reason to keep that a secret.
Let’s… try and find an optimistic read of the situation. Perhaps there are extended sequences of Bayonetta as a young girl in the next game, which would obviously require a different voice actor. There are also hints that an alternate timeline Bayonetta will be in the game — the one in the trailer is holding guns inscribed with “Whittingham Fair” rather than the usual Scarborough Fair — so perhaps that one will have a different voice actor. I’m reaching here, I know, but the idea that Bayonetta may lose her iconic sultry voice leaves me desolate.