Bungie issued an official comment on Lance Reddick's passing, offering a heartfelt farewell to the iconic actor whose long and storied career also included a major role in the studio's latest game. Reddick was reportedly found dead at his LA home by local authorities on March 17. He was 60 at the time of his passing.
Reddick's three-decade career included acclaimed performances in popular TV shows such as The Wire, Fringe, and Bosch, as well as the entire John Wick movie franchise. He also had an impressive voice acting track record in the video game industry dating back to 2009. One of his earliest such roles was that of Commander Zavala in Bungie's hit 2014 shooter Destiny. Reddick reprised his role of the iconic "Big Blue" overseeing player-controlled Guardians in Destiny 2 and all of its subsequent expansions.
Bungie honored the late actor shortly after the news of his passing. In a statement, a company spokesperson praised Reddick's "iconic presence" and human qualities, as well as his contributions to the Destiny franchise, concluding that he will be sorely missed. The tribute also acknowledged the actor's dedication to the fandom, which was most recently exemplified by Reddick's in-character holiday message for Destiny 2 players.
Many Destiny 2 players already gathered to pay tribute to Lance Reddick by convening in front of Commander Zavala in-game. Some also expressed hope that his iconic character who played a pivotal role throughout the series will be given a sensible send-off instead of merely being replaced by another voice actor. Destiny 2: Lightfall released only a month ago, so Bungie should have ample time to figure out how to do that before it's time for the game's next and possibly final yearly expansion. Assuming, of course, that the studio does decide to write off Commander Zavala from the overarching story.
Reddick's other high-profile developer collaborations included appearances in Remedy Entertainment's 2016 sci-fi shooter Quantum Break—for which he also did full motion capture—and both mainline installments in the Horizon franchise from Guerrilla Games. He will also posthumously appear as Hellboy in Upstream Arcade's cel-shaded roguelike Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, which is currently in development for PC and consoles.
The legendary actor will have four more posthumous movie releases, two of which have already been confirmed for 2023. One of them is a Netflix feature film Shirley from writer-director John Ridley, with the other one being Ballerina, a John Wick spinoff starring Ana de Armas in which Reddick will appear as Continental Hotel concierge Charon for one final time.