Update: We've amended the headline of this article to include a small quote and better reflect the comments made by Chiplock in the Kiwi Talkz interview. As pointed out, it is certainly possible that the voice actor is unable to discuss his potential involvement due to an NDA. Original text below:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is fast approaching its release date of May 12th, 2023 (yes, it'll be here a lot sooner than you think!), so it's likely that Nintendo is currently in the final stages of development for the game and ironing out any egregious bugs that might still be lying about.
One thing's for certain, however: it's probably safe to assume that all voice acting for the game is now fully wrapped up, and if that's the case, it looks like one key voice actor from Breath of the Wild won't be appearing in its sequel at all.
This news comes by way of YouTube channel KIWI TALKZ, which recently conducted an interview with voice actor Sean Chiplock. Chiplock is a prolific voice actor for video games and anime and voiced several characters for Breath of the Wild, including Revali, The Deku Tree, and Teba. When asked about whether Chiplock will be playing Tears of the Kingdom himself, this is what he had to say:
"I never played Breath Of The Wild, didn't touch it at all! I bought the Master Edition I got the ultimate big biggest Limited Edition version that you could get and it sat unopened in my room for two years before I finally cracked it open to give some of the bonus stuff away to a friend who had better use for them. That's because of the way that I am, with how open-ended Breath Of The Wild is, the fact there's like 120 shrines most of which you don't even need to do to complete the story, like I am someone who has to dedicate themselves to a game if he wants to finish it.
"With Breath Of The Wild, if I set it down any longer than like three days I would forget about it I'd forget where I was, what I was doing, how much I'd already completed there's way too much. Now, Age Of Calamity I did play all the way through and I even did it on stream so yeah that's a case where I am very excited for Tears Of The Kingdom, I'm happy for people that have been waiting so long. I will definitely keep an eye out for videos so that I can be knowledgeable about what happens in case any of my characters happen to come back - I still have no idea if that's going to happen."
While it's probably safe to assume that Chiplock won't be voicing any of his characters from Breath of the Wild for its sequel at this point, it's still entirely possible that the characters themselves will still make an appearance, whether in the story itself or via a flashback. Nintendo may have opted for a different voice actor for the roles, or — perhaps more likely — it may have scaled back voice acting entirely for certain aspects of the game, limiting it to more prominent roles such as Zelda herself.
Thanks to KIWI TALKZ for the tip on this one. You can check out the full interview with Sean Chiplock below: