Expedition 33, Baldur's Gate 3 star Jennifer English cancels next role over health concerns

Eclipse Glow Games has announced that Jennifer English, the actress best known for portraying Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3 and Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, will no longer star in Tides of Annihilation.

English had been publicly attached to portray Gwendolyn, the lead character in Tides of Annihilation, since its reveal at a State of Play in Feb. 2025. Just a couple of months later, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched, and English won several awards for portraying Maelle in that game. While Gwendolyn was shaping up to be her next major role in a AAA game, Eclipse Glow Games took to X on July 17 to explain that Jennifer English had exited the project due to a health issue.

"We have some sad news to share, that Jennifer English will be stepping away from her role as the English voice of Gwendolyn, the main protagonist in Tides of Annihilation due to personal health reasons," the post explains. "She will continue to support the project in an advisory role. Earlier in June, Jennifer informed us that she would no longer be able to continue in the role. While we were, of course, saddened by her decision, we completely understood and respected Jennfier [sic.] in prioritizing her well-being. We are also deeply grateful for the care and responsibility she showed throughout this process."

English has not elaborated on this further on her personal social media accounts, but she is still attached to a couple of other video game projects at this time. She recently appeared in a video highlighting Emberville's cast and showed up at TennoCon to confirm that she'd be portraying the Empress of Eldveil in Soulframe. Eclipse Glow Games' post even states that she has taken on an advisory role in the game's development and helped the studio find a replacement actress for Gwendolyn.

Tides of Annihilation is part of the recent wave of Chinese action games like Black Myth: Wukong and Blood Message. Unlike those games, which are based on Chinese history, this one is a more Western-inspired fantasy game based on Arthurian legend. The gameplay mostly takes after titles like Devil May Cry, although it also features boss fights against giants that look inspired by Shadow of the Colossus. Tides of Annihilation will be playable at Gamescom this year.

Eclipse Glow Games says the new lead actress will be featured in a public demo that Gamescom attendees will be able to try out in August, although the studio is not yet ready to confirm who the new Gwendolyn is. We also don't know how much this change will impact Tides of Annihilation's development timeline, as it still does not have a release date.

Whenever the game does arrive, it'll be available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.