Patricia Summersett is the voice of Princess Zelda in Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. Recently, Summersett was interviewed by PauseResume about her role, where she revealed how she prepared for the role, and the preparations that she did to get into the role. Here are the related questions that she was asked, along with what she had to say in response to them:
PR: Did you feel under any pressure considering you were the first voice actress to give such an iconic video game character an English voice? Especially after 3 decades of silence for Zelda.
Patricia: I did feel pressure surely. It was a fascinating year being a “silent princess” and watching the hype unfold. But I also felt well supported and it was a focused room, much work to be done and clear direction. At some point, it became more important to simply focus on the work at present.
PR: How did you mentally prepare yourself for the role? And, how much creative freedom did you have to explore the character?
Patricia: I approach every script I work on from a theatre perspective. I prepped and did research into the Zelda universe to prepare as well. Zelda is a very easy character to empathise with. But I was also given very clear direction, so ultimately it was about coming in with an idea and then marrying it with the vision of Nintendo.
I just wish they just had her talk in her native accent because the British accent sounded incredibly forced. To me, she didn’t sound like she was comfortable in it.
Or got a British voice actress for the role. They had plenty to choose from from just the Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora’s Tower, & The Last Story voice actresses alone.
She’s a very great voice actress. Can’t wait to see what other roles she gets in the future.
I liked her voice too minus the British accent. Regal = British?
She did a shit job.
Stuff it nerd.
Stuff what?
She was so effing breathy.
Ehhvhhrhhy whhohhddhh whhahhss ahhnn ehhxhhalee
Wispy weak sounding princes. NOT MY ZELDA.
Zelda is supposed to be strong-willed and kick-ass, not sounding like she just ran a marathon while pining over Chris Pratt. And don’t even get me started on minpha.. ugh.
Seriously, so glad they added other languages. I switched it immediately just so I wouldn’t have to hear it.
They should have gotten some of the voice actors from Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Also.. “Shoot the glowing spots, Link!” .. I know she didn’t write that line, but seriously Nintendo? Seriously? The first game not to hold our hands like babies since Majora’s Mask, and at the end you give us “Shoot the glowing spots, Link!”? ..pretty sure I know how a boss battle is supposed to go. (Even the most anticlimactic boss battle in Zelda history. Don’t get me wrong, LOVED breath of the wild.. But final Ganon was extra weaksauce)
I agree with everything in your last paragraph. As for voice actresses, I loved the voice actresses for Fiora and Melia. Especially Melia. If you’re a fan of Doctor Who by some chance, you’ll know the voice actress as Clara.
I was perfectly happy with her performance. No performance is perfect, but I think she pulled it off nicely. And yes, Regal = British. Have you even SEEN The Queen? The Crown? Downton Abbey? :p
Then why not get a Brit?
What’s wrong with someone who’s not a Brit?
The problem is some people are tired of hearing fake accents when it shouldn’t be too hard to find a talented actress that doesn’t have to fake it.
The problem is that you are implying that the current actress is not talented. Further, you are implying there is something wrong with faking an accent, which every actor under the sun does regularly.
I don’t see how you are getting that from my comment. If you read my other comments, you’ll know I actually enjoyed her as Zelda. If she wasn’t talented, I wouldn’t be enjoying her voice. But I still want a genuine accent as there is no excuse for fake accents these days. Unless the guys in charge just want to be cheap & don’t want to spend the money to find the right actress that sounds like the character without having to fake anything.
This one’s gonna keep milking her 10 lines for all they’re worth, huh?
Not to mention she’s the worst Zelda by far, every other dub got Zelda much better; the english one sounds like a 30-something british teabitch.
While I thought she was fine as Zelda in BotW, I honestly hope she was only hired to voice THIS Zelda. Hopefully the next Zelda has a completely different voice actress.