‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ Devs Knew That ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’s Shadowheart Was the Perfect Maelle, Despite Not Knowing It Was Shadowheart’s Voice

Everyone and their grandma knows that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is still the best game of 2025. The Western-made JRPG became a proper global hit, so it’s natural for everyone in the community to still talk about it.

Of course, among the more interesting stories from the Clair Obscur universe are those from the development process, i.e., those from behind the scenes of the game itself, and we have one such story for you.

Namely, in a recent interview, Jennifer English, the voice actress behind Maelle, revealed how she actually got the part, and the whole story goes back to her role as Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was released back in 2023, and it is still lauded as one of the best RPGs of all time. The game was absolutely brilliant in every way, and among the many elements and characters we can name here is Shadowheart, one of the game’s best characters.

Shadowheart was voiced by Jennifer English, whose memorable performance made the character so special and so recognizable. English also had appearances in Elden Ring and Divinity: Original Sin 2, but Shadowheart made her voice very famous in the gaming community.

When the auditions for Expedition 33 started, English submitted her tape. It was, as she reveals, a blind audition, so the developers seemingly had no idea whose tape they were listening to, which was done to avoid any accusations of bias.

But, as English revealed in the video above, she was more or less immediately the favorite for the role of Maelle, and she can thank Shadowheart for that. But, while some of the game’s devs played Baldur’s Gate 3, no one seemingly recognized English’s memorable voice from the game, which makes this even funnier.

But, it also goes to show that English is a truly brilliant vocal performance and that there are many behind-the-scenes ties between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Expedition 33. Also, English’s partner, Aliona Baranova – who had a minor role in Clair Obscur herself and was a performance director on Baldur’s Gate 3 – claims that the game’s narrative lead, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen “knew within seconds that Jen’s voice […] was Maelle.”

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