If you have played Baldur’s Gate 3, you will know Karlach. She’s the tall and muscular barbarian you can recruit to your party, and she certainly casts an imposing figure. But while she may look intimidating, there is a softer side to Karlach that, combined with a rather wicked sense of humour, makes her an endearing character.
Karlach was brought to life by actor Samantha Béart, and I got the chance to sit down with them at this year’s Gamescom to find out more about what this role has meant not only to them, but to the Baldur’s Gate 3 community in general.
Below, we discuss everything, from their first auditions in 2020, to Karlach’s hellish humour and the deeper meaning behind it, before finding out what’s next for Béart.
To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Samantha Béart on their audition, and finding out they got the part
“Around the beginning of lockdown, so 2020, I was asked to audition for mocap roles in a fantasy game – which I have video for and maybe one day will release – from planeswalker to devilkin, and I was like, ‘when Wizards finds out, they’re going to be so maaad’,” Béart laughs as they look back at the very beginning of their Karlach journey. “So, there was an attempt at hiding what [Baldur’s Gate 3] actually was.”