9 Video Game Recastings That Pissed Everyone Off
3. Sam Fisher - Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Sometimes, fans can grow attached to the voice of a character because an actor has been with the series since the start. Such is the case for Michael Ironside’s Sam Fisher, but there’s more to it than that. In the early development of Splinter Cell, Ironside was an instrumental part of shaping the writing of Sam’s background and creating a character that was more than just an avatar for the player.
In 2013, Ironside passed the torch to Eric Johnson for Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
Eric Johnson’s turn as Sam Fisher was maligned by the fan base because it strayed so far from all the work Ironside had done. Gone was the iconic grit, replaced instead by something altogether more bland and forgettable.
To make matters worse, Blacklist’s script gave Johnson very little to work with. The combination of the two meant our protagonist was less iconic, hardened stealth agent and more generic action hero.
In the ensuing years, Ironside admitted that he stepped away from Splinter Cell due to being diagnosed with cancer and his grapple with mortality. Since overcoming his diagnosis, he has returned to the role of Fisher in a special mission of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, giving fans hope that he’ll be back in the goggles for future instalments.