Destiny Dropped Peter Dinklage in Part Due to Hollywood "Nonsense"

Destiny developer Bungie has shed new light on its decision to recast one of the game's most central characters, the Ghost. In an interview with Game Informer, executive producer Mark Noseworthy said part of the reason why it dropped Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage in favor of prolific video game voice actor Nolan North--the voice of Nathan Drake in Uncharted--was due in part to "Hollywood nonsense."

Noseworthy had nothing but kind things to say about Dinklage, but said Bungie was looking for an actor who could be around more to do voicework as needed.

Asked if Bungie's decision to recast the Ghost was more a reaction to criticism about his performance or Hollywood nonsense, Noseworthy said it was the latter.

"It's more on the nonsense side of things," Noseworthy explained. "Dinklage was awesome to work with on Destiny One but we just needed to work with someone who is more available. Nolan--he's a pro; this is his thing."

Noseworthy continued: "We can call him up and say, 'Hey, next week can we do this thing? We're doing this internal play test and it would be great to get some Ghost dialogue in there instead of that robot voice that we use,' and he's available."

North is re-recording every line of dialogue for the entire game. The script, however, remains the same. In addition to the "Hollywood nonsense," Bungie lead concept artist Jesse van Dijk previously explained that North taking over for Dinklage as the Ghost was done for other reasons, too, including the developer's desire to have the Ghost play a larger part in the overall game.

Bungie designer Luke Smith echoed van Dijk's comments, saying the developer's plan is for the Ghost to be the new "purveyor of lore" for the upcoming Taken King expansion and whatever comes next.

The Taken King launches on September 15. Bungie recently defended the game's $40 price tag, which is twice the price of the previous Dark Below and House of Wolves expansions.