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Reuben Langdon 'sad' to no longer be voicing Ken in Street Fighter 6 but says he 'must be himself no matter what'

'And continue on my own journey'

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Posted by Dakota 'DarkHorse' Hills • September 19, 2022 at 7:55 p.m. PDT • Comments: 108

Reuben Langdon has served as one of Capcom's longest running voice actors since he took over the iconic role of Devil May Crys' Dante in 2005 and then Street Fighter's Ken Masters in 2008, but that streak is ending for at least one of the characters.

With the announcement of Ken's return in Street Fighter 6, it was quickly discovered that Langdon would not be reprising the role of the red Shoto, and he's now released something of an interesting statement regarding the matter.

After not posting about the news for 2 days, the professional stunt coordinator put up a series of tweets, but you couldn't really tell it was about Ken at first.

"We are going through an amazing transformation on the planet right now," began Langdon. "Many difficulties will lead to Chaos and tragedy but in the end it is the over coming of these hard times that will make humans shine once again. #SF6"

It was his second tweet though that started grabbing people's attention.

"I am sad to no longer be the voice of Ken because he is a character dear to my heart," said Langdon. "There are many lessons here in this situation. I tried my best to be epithetic to people on all sides but I must be myself no matter what and continue on my own journey."

That final part about how he "must be himself" created speculation that this situation wasn't just a simple recasting, but potentially a removal or parting of ways due to his online posts.

For years, Langdon has been quite vocal on social media discussing conspiracy theories and other topics from 9/11 to aliens and beyond, however, there is no further evidence to suggest that he was willfully replaced โ€” if he was ever planned for the project at all.

Ken, who will now be portrayed by David Matranga, is far from the only character to be recast in SF6.

Most notably, Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham aren't returning to voice Chun-Li and Guile, respectively, in the new game despite previously holding onto those roles since Street Fighter 4 like Langdon.

The latest round of announcements also confirmed Dhalsim, E. Honda and Blanka will have new English voice actors too.

That currently leaves just Ryu, Juri and Luke as the only characters with returning actors from Street Fighter 5.

It is worth pointing out as well that Taliesin Jaffe, who portrayed Blanka and Adon since SF4, served too as the casting / voice director on previous Capcom fighting games over the past 14 years.

Jaffe's apparent absence in Street Fighter 6 could indicate that the new casting crew decided to take the game in a different direction with the characters being noticeably older, hence why the majority of classic world warriors have changed.

If it turns out that Capcom and Langdon are no longer working together going forward, that would also mean the next time we see Dante, he'd likely have a new actor too.

"I do not own Ken, he is property of Capcom," continued Langdon. "I am happy to have added my essence to the different versions of him over the years, I was not the first Ken and certainly not the last.

"Hopefully the next actor will take the character to the next level and the audience will continue to love the Legend that has become Ken Masters. Shoryuken!"

Matranga took to Twitter after Ken's reveal to share his excitement in taking on the mantle in SF6.

You may also recognize David Matranga from his performances as Shoto Todoroki in My Hero Academia, Bertholdt Hoover in Attack on Titan, Manabu in Classroom of the Elite and more roles across anime and video games.

Sent in by NoriyukiWorks.

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