What Really Happened With Splinter Cell? (And Why It's Coming Back)

Why Michael Ironside Left In 2013

At the time we were told Ironside's departure from Splinter Cell revolved around wanting an actor that could do motion capture work more comfortably.

Like David Hayter being replaced by Keifer Sutherland in Metal Gear Solid 5, it came as a massive shock to fans. So much so, Blacklist is often cited as the game that "killed" Splinter Cell in the modern era.

However, as mentioned earlier, the game's sales took it to the third best-selling of the franchise, and as for Michael Ironside? The real reason he departed was actually incredibly sad and unfortunate.

Revealed in an April 2019 interview, Ironside noted that he had bowel cancer, and had to step away for health reasons. He provided consultancy for replacement Eric Johnson, but stated that he thought the franchise would be in good hands.

Obviously this was kept away from the press, and for good reason: Michael notes that he really "didn't expect to survive", and in retrospect, you can see why he'd want to take a considerable amount of time returning.

Thankfully, Ironside reprised Fisher for the first time since Conviction, appearing as Sam in a piece of Ghost Recon Wild Lands' DLC, then following up with Ghost Recon Breakpoint's Deep State add-on.

In the former he acknowledged "rival" Solid Snake and stated he was "the only one" left in a stealth game capacity, before Deep State featured far more cutscenes overall, and a much more confident Ironside performance.

2019 also saw Ubisoft clarify what they were thinking when it came to the Splinter Cell IP. Ironside was obviously away for treatment at the start of the decade, so why did we not get more sequels with Eric Johnson?