Metal Gear's Original Snake Actor Reprises Role for New Ford Ad

Metal Gear Solid V controversially replaced longtime Snake voice actor David Hayter with 24's Kiefer Sutherland, but Hayter is now back doing Snake again--in a new advertisement for Ford.

As shared by Hayter on Twitter today, Ford has released a pair of new Metal Gear-themed ads. One (above) features a codec call between Snake and Colonel Campbell about the Ford Focus SE. The other (below) sees Pyscho Mantis reading Snake's thoughts, who apparently can't get his mind off of the new Ford Fusion.

Hayter teased on Twitter in March that he would be returning to the role of Snake for something. It turns out the script he posted a small picture of was for the new codec video.

He also recently returned to the role in a more unofficial capacity, as he'll be involved with a fan-created, Metal Gear-themed virtual reality "experience" called The Fan Legacy: Metal Gear Solid.

Hayter was replaced as the voice of Snake for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, the latest entries in the series (and the final ones directed by series creator Hideo Kojima). Hayter recently said he has "no particular love for Kojima" and no interest in working with him again. He apparently isn't opposed to returning to the role of Snake, at least on a small scale, which shouldn't come as a surprise after he said, "If it were my choice, I would do this role forever," back in 2013.

It was revealed in a Game Informer interview last month that previous attempts were made to replace Hayter. We never got a satisfying answer from Kojima as to why the change was made for Metal Gear Solid V; in 2013 he said, "It's a new type of Metal Gear game and we wanted to have this reflected in the voice actor as well." Despite this, the Japanese voice actor was not changed for the game.