The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a hallmark entry in the series for a number of reasons, from its open-world design to its more unique take on the typical Zelda narrative and characters like Ganon. One reason it undoubtedly stood out was its more holistic use of voice acting. While icons like Princess Zelda had voices in the past, more often than not personality was reflected through grunts and affirmations rather than complete dialogue. Breath of the Wild was criticized by many for its English voice work, but Zelda's voice actor Patricia Summersett says she put her 10 years of training and more into the role and has no regrets, citing it as "one of the biggest gifts of [her] career" regardless of the reception.
For the most part, it seems the Internet's attitude toward The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's voice work has taken a more even tenor since 2017, especially becoming more positive in the wake of 2020's Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Coming back to the character was wonderful, according to Summersett, in spite of the pressure that came with portraying a character who has a lot of history leading to heightened fan expectations. In an interview with Zelda Dungeon last year, Summersett said she has grown a "thicker skin" toward criticism, and told Game Rant she's her own worst critic. However, after thinking it over, she's happy knowing she "simply did my best." Game Rant spoke to Summersett about her inspirations for developing Zelda as a character across multiple entries in the long-running series.
While she is now based out of Los Angeles and Montreal, stuck in the latter city for a year due to heavier border restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Summersett said she is a proud "Yooper" - raised in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Before beginning her acting training at 21 in the Theatre Performance program at Concordia University in Montreal, she was an ice dancer. Her "first love" was dance at five years old and she entered into that professional world as a young adult knowing it had a limited shelf life, though she also performed in musicals like Grease and Damn Yankees during high school. After her ice dancing career ended when she was 20, Summersett took an acting class while studying to be a nurse that made her realize she "found my calling," one that involved less math.
However, her earlier path trained her to have "discipline" and a hard work ethic, one that could be applied to any craft. It also gave her an athletic background and physical coordination that fit with her lower vocal range and interest in "darker roles," specifically with female warrior archetypes. She said she has always been cast to play older and gravitates toward more complex, thoughtful characters that help her feel grounded.
"Felt like I was a late bloomer, but in retrospect not really...I think anything you pursue with great passion you can get something out of."
It's reportedly less intuitive for her to play "lighter" characters, which made it all the more surprising, or poignant, when she was cast as Princess Zelda, who was "struggling to find herself." She felt her initial audition for an undisclosed character was a "personal stretch," but based on its casting call, she "got the psychology of [Zelda]" and put a lot of time into developing things. Ultimately, Summersett wonders if her own grappling with finding a voice for the character was what garnered Nintendo's attention, but she also pulled from personal experience. The British, regal tone Zelda carries is inspired by her time in London, studying for her Masters of Classical Acting at The Royal Central School. She said she was aware of a "different expectation" from the royal system that does not exist in the United States.
Once she had the role, Summersett went through Zelda games and the Hyrule Historia collector's book to get a feel for the series' lore and history. She is also aware of performances in The Legend of Zelda cartoon from 1989 and the Philips CD-i games, which technically had full-voiced iterations of Princess Zelda prior to Summersett becoming her first "official English voice." However, Summersett said pulling any direct inspiration from these older portrayals would be "counterintuitive" both because of how little they had to do with mainline games and with Breath of the Wild's new take in particular. As Summersett put it,
"They cast me based on my audition so they already had what they were going for in mind, and by the time I came in for sessions they had an idea for what the range and general tone was going to be. If I had come in saying I wanted to do something completely different, they would have been like 'that's not why we cast you in the first place.'"
While Summersett said acting can involve a lot of "shapeshifting," she said the older she gets, the more she tries to go for performances that feel effortless. "It's important for it to come from a place of your own impulses, and if it's too far from you, you don't usually get cast as that anyway." That being said, her general leaning toward warrior-like characters came back around when she was asked to reprise the role in Age of Calamity - a spin-off/prequel to Breath of the Wild using the Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash formula.
It was a "huge thrill" just to return to a role she already considered a blessing, but Summersett said getting a second crack at the character was even more exciting. She describes Age of Calamity's Zelda as "Zelda 2.0," one who is the same at her core but has more access to her gut and ferocity. While this was partly developed with the help of her director, the "mosaic of inspirations" she used for this performance included bleed-through from previous work as characters like Ash in Rainbow Six Siege while leaning heavily on Breath of the Wild's iteration.
Working on The Legend of Zelda is a secretive process according to Summersett, including the use of strict non-disclosure agreements and developers keeping information as close to the chest as possible to avoid spoilers getting out. The coronavirus pandemic exasperated this distance, to the point she was often not aware of whether the entire original cast was returning for Age of Calamity despite it leaning into interactions between Zelda, Link, and the four Champions of Hyrule. Even so, seeing the characters together in scenes she was dubbing felt like a warm reunion. "It makes you, and therefore your character, excited to see her friends."
The secrecy of development also means Summersett is in the dark on whether or not she will return for Breath of the Wild 2 - and even if she was aware of anything, she couldn't say so. While she tries not to worry about it, she said she never takes opportunities for granted and is "optimistic" she might get the chance. If she does, she said she'll be "ready and waiting with a monstrously large heart container." In the meantime, she's working on a couple of other games, including performances she may have forgotten about, and one audition around the time of this conversation got her particularly excited - in part because the role worked well with her recently cut, short and spiky hair.
However, she tries not to be idealistic to avoid potential disappointments, especially after opportunities like playing Princess Zelda. She has come a long way since playing Cha-Cha in Grease and Lola in Damn Yankees, "wonderful" parts that left a huge impression on her as a small-town Yooper. "I don't know how many iconic roles I could play, I got to play one - and twice at that. It's good to keep the expectations in check."
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now on Nintendo Switch.