Nathalie Emmanuel is the newest star in the voice cast of the captivating animated series ‘Ghosts of Ruin’.
The announcement that the “Game of Thrones” and “Fast and Furious” franchise costar would be bringing her voice talents to the new series was made during the “Ghosts of Ruin” Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday.
“Literally, I’m emailing the agents on this panel right now,” executive producer Michael Ramey joked, underlining how “real-time” the news had developed. (In a post-panel interview, Ramey and fellow EP Katie Stippec recounted Variety that they were backstage “refreshing, renewing, renewing.”)
In May, Variety exclusively announced that Rosario Dawson and Tony Revolori have joined the cast of the animated series, which follows a group of gamers as they compete in the first ever neural reality battle royale game, called “Ruin”. However, an evil virus appears and turns their utopia into hell.
Emmanuel will Dr. Voice in Angela Tucci, who according to Stippec is “a very monumental, central character in the run of the show”.
“I’ve wanted her on the show from the very beginning because I’m a huge fan of hers,” said showrunner Michael Ryan. “She’s amazing. And I think the role she plays is so perfect. I can’t wait to shoot her.”
Ryan also gave some more details about who will voice Emmanuel. “She pretty much runs the neural reality,” he teased. “Everything I’ve seen Nathalie in, her acting is so strong and her sense of presence and power really comes through and I really think that’s going to be perfect.
The show also stars K-Pop star AleXa, Karen Strassman and John Bentley – all of whom were on the Hall H panel – as well as Josh Keaton, Justin Long, Cherise Boothe, Harron Atkins, Michael Longfellow and JB Blanc.
The Hall H panel meant that creator and executive producer PJ Accetterro’s first trip to San Diego Comic-Con was particularly memorable, especially the experience of announcing Emmanuel’s addition live from the stage.
Natalie is great. I can’t believe how good our cast is. It’s stacked,” Accetterro said. “Not just the talent, but what they bring to the table and the characters, because they’ve taken all of their shooting to the next level.
The talk, moderated by Coy Jandreau, also featured Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Music’s Giovoni Rios, Hendric Beunk, and Russell Emanuel, and reflected the community-focused interactive nature of the project, giving attendees the chance to weigh in on what dialogue Dawson’s Prism – described as an aloof pro-gamer with one goal: to become the world’s undisputed champion – will deliver in an upcoming episode. Those in attendance watched three versions of her character’s joking dialogue and overwhelmingly voted for option C, which caused the biggest burn against her ex-lover.
“Ghosts of Ruin” debuts this fall through the website of Gala Film, the film and TV division of Web3 company Gala. While there is no streaming service associated with the project yet, Battle Island plans to bring the project to other platforms for wider release.