Summary
Frank West’s original voice actor, TJ Rotolo, has confirmed that he’s not returning to voice the character inDead Rising Deluxe Remasterand wasn’t even asked byCapcom.
Earlier this week, Capcom dropped an absolute bombshell on theDead Risingfan base byannouncing that the original game is getting a “Deluxe Remaster” at some point in 2024. Considering the bad state that Dead Rising 4 left the series in,most fans assumed we’d never see the series return, especially not the beloved first entry.
As fantastic as it is to see Dead Rising come back from the dead(sorry), the reveal trailer did have one thing wrong with it - Frank West’s voice.Ignoring the fact that he’s been redesigned once again, we briefly got to hear Frank speak, making it clear that TJ Rotolo hadn’t been asked to return to the role.
Anyone who has played the original Dead Rising or Off The Record could tell straight away that Frank West had been recast, but his original voice actor, TJ Rotolo, has now confirmed the news after being asked by a fan.As pointed out on Twitter by FrankByDaylight, Instagram user rxysinister got in contact with Rotolo after the Deluxe Remaster was announced to ask if he really wasn’t going to be in it.
In response, Rotolo confirmed that he wasn’t going to be returning to voice Frank West in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and that he didn’t have an answer as to why. His heartfelt response also reveals that he wasn’t actually asked by the producers to come back and re-record his original lines, although he doesn’t seem to be too upset about it and has a positive viewpoint on the whole thing.
“The answer to your question is I have no answer. All I can say is that I’ve always been grateful for every opportunity to help bring Frank to life. An actor’s job when called upon is to show up prepared, deliver your best, and when done, move on to next mission; I simply wasn’t called for this mission. The reasons are the producer’s own.”
As Dead Rising fans know, this isn’t the first time that Rotolo has been recast from his iconic role,as Dead Rising 4 infamously gave him a new voice actor(alongside yet another redeisgn).That decision led to boycotts and petitions to bring him back, which were unsuccessful and seemingly didn’t stick with Capcom enough to have him back for the first game’s remake.
Some fans have speculated that Rotolo wasn’t brought back for Frank since he’s a union actor, but he did recently voice William Birkin in Resident Evil 2’s remake.
