Well this sounds promising: We’ve got Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow, and Joan Allen to look forward to when Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ships in just a few months. Those three, as well as Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), Vladimir Kulich (The 13th Warrior), Claudia Christian (Babylon 5), Diane Louise Salinger (Carnivale), Renee Victor (Weeds), and George Coe (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) are all on tap, says Bethesda in a press release celebrating the roleplaying game’s voice talent.
My first encounter with Christopher Plummer was probably The Sound of Music. My second was the sentimental science-fantasy flick Somewhere in Time. Also: The Thorn Birds, Dreamscape, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. All the movies he’d probably rather not be remembered for, in other words (oh, I’ve seen his better stuff, too, like The Insider). In any event, he’s a huge catch—a two-time Emmy and Tony Award winner. In Skyrim, he’ll play Arngeir, “a powerful Greybeard elder… An order of philosopher monks who are masters of the Way of the Voice, the Greybeards live in silent isolation atop Skyrim’s largest mountain.”
Max Von Sydow’s another heavy-hitter, though again, my first run-in with him was the cult comedy movie Strange Brew. Older viewers will remember him for The Seventh Seal and The Exorcist, while younger ones probably know him best as the director in (not of) Minority Report. In Skyrim, Sydow plays Esbern, “a chronicler and agent of the Blades who has survived in hiding… Long obsessed with the foretold return of the dragon Alduin, the World Eater, Esbern will teach you how to confront this epic evil.”
And then there’s Tony Award winner (and three-time Academy Award nominee) Joan Allen, who everyone knows from the Bourne flicks, but also perhaps Nixon, The Crucible, Pleasantville, The Contender, and The Upside of Anger. She’ll play “Delphine, one of the last remaining members of the Blades – an ancient warrior society once sworn to protect the Emperor… Like you, Delphine is trying to unravel the mystery of the dragons’ return.”
So better than Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, and Terence Stamp in Oblivion’s lineup? How about we settle for “different.” Look for Skyrim on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 November 11.