Witcher TV star’s gaming debut a chance for self-exploration
Anya Chalotra is probably best-known for her role in Netflix’s The Witcher
Abu Bakar Yasin and Amber Haque
BBC Asian Network News
More and more actors are starring in videogame adaptations, though not many go the other way.
But that’s what Anya Chalotra, who you might recognise from Netflix hit The Witcher, has done.
She’s swapped costumes for a mo-cap suit in her starring role in story-driven action-adventure Unknown 9: Awakening.
Anya plays Haroona, a character with supernatural, dimension-hopping powers on a quest to stop a secretive group from altering the course of history.
OK, you might have heard something similar before. But Anya says the role is rewriting the narrative in other ways.
The game is set in 20th-Century India and is one of only a few released by a large publisher to feature a South Asian protagonist.
“I’ve not explored that part of myself – that fierce part of myself – in a role yet,” Anya tells BBC Asian Network News.
‘Coming from two strong worlds’
Anya, who was born in Wolverhampton, is probably best-known to audiences for her breakout role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in The Witcher.
The Netflix hit is expected to return next year, with season four starring new lead Liam Hemsworth.
Anya says the move from live-action to recording motion-capture sequences for a video game was intimidating at first.
“You step into ‘the volume’, as they call it,” she says, referring to the space where recordings take place.
“You’ve got a camera on your head and I was like: ‘How am I gonna bring my process to this world?”
But, as she settled into the role, she says she was surprised by the similarities with more traditional acting work.
“We had a director who was directing us like any other scene.
“And we do take after take after take to try and get the best one.
“So it wasn’t as different as I thought it might be,” she says.
Image source, Bandai Namco
Anya plays Haroona – a young woman with supernatural powers – in Unknown 9
Anya says another thing she tries to bring to all of her acting work is her dual heritage – her father is English, her mother is Indian.
Like her character in the game, she says she’s experienced “coming from two different worlds”.
“Two strong worlds.
“Taken to the mandir [Hindi place of worship] one day and then Sunday school the next.
“I think that’s why acting’s helped so much – but I’m still figuring it out and think I will be for a long time,” she says.
Anya says audiences can tend to see her characters in terms of just one side of her personality, but she doesn’t see it that way.
“I am both. I’m not just one,” she says.
“I come with both – every character has both.
“Even though you and I talk about Haroona being an Indian woman. She’s got so much of me, the other side of me.”
Image source, Bandai Namco
Unknown 9 allows players to switch between worlds as part of Haroona’s quest
Anya says throwing herself into complex female roles is all-consuming and it can be hard to leave her characters behind when she clocks off.
“I’m still in the process of doing that to be honest,” she says.
“I do struggle because every day you’re in the mindset for so long and although I’m not a method actor, it does alter you.
“And it weirdly forms new ideas of yourself because you’re practising a habit or thought constantly as this character.”
But she has come up with a few methods.
“I take my hair and have a shower and I literally cleanse myself of a character,” she says.
“I try and do as much exercise as possible around work, but that’s difficult.”
Unknown 9: Awakening, is part of an attempt to launch a new franchise, with other tie-in works planned to build out the game’s universe.
As games companies look to find new audiences in a time when the industry is struggling, it’s likely the game’s publisher Bandai Namco will be hoping the game appeals to a wide range of people.
Having a South Asian character front and centre could be one way to do that.
“That’s so exciting for me because I know I’ll go home and see the girls in my family pick up this game and be excited by what they’re seeing and who they’re playing as,” Anya says.
“I’ll feel chuffed. I’ll feel honoured.”
But she also hopes people from other backgrounds will connect with the experience.
“To be part of something which is going to be seen and played by, hopefully, thousands of people, that’s all I want,” she says.
“For people to know how brilliant this world is – India and the culture.
“It’s a blessing to be a part of.”
Listen to Ankur Desai’s show on BBC Asian Network live from 15:00-18:00 Monday to Thursday – or listen back here.
