Graha Voice Actor Change?

1) I heard that Bailey hurt their voice during Wicked. This might have been recorded during that time. If so, let the guy recover.
2) If this is a recast, then don't hate on the new guy. This likely got put on them with little warning. SE just needs to explain if it was a recast or not. It's jarring but I'm not going to start hating on the new guy. They are clearly trying.

Wicked, both parts, began filming in 2021 and officially wrapped the beginning of 2024. The interview, from 2024, where he mentions a swollen tongue, was referring to something that happened in 2018-2019.

Johnny's a very busy man, and has been very busy since 2018, but there's a lot of confusion regarding the timeline of his work going around. This year, 2025, he was in a four month long run of Richard II AS Richard II, filming on Bridgerton season 4, and the press tours of Jurassic World Rebirth and Wicked For Good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bunnymoon

Wicked, both parts, began filming in 2021 and officially wrapped the beginning of 2024. The interview, from 2024, where he mentions a swollen tongue, was referring to something that happened in 2018-2019.

---

This. It's tiring that people keep bringing this up when even is this thread many have clarified this point several times.

Also, once again, no one is hating on the new guy. No one even knows the new guy. People wanting to keep Bailey, who, again, has been playing G'raha for seven years, isn't hating on the new guy. People want G'raha to keep sounding like G'raha, and G'raha sounds like Bailey, who has a pretty recognizable voice and had always delivered an outstanding performance. No replacement would ever be able to truly fill his shoes, and that's nobody's fault. The guy is just a cut above most actors.

Fans want Bailey because he's Bailey—because he is G'raha. Fans deserve to know what happened to Bailey in this patch and what they should expect from G'raha in the future. Fans don't deserve to be left in the dark.

I made a post on my Bluesky of the game's patch history since 4.4 and major events in Bailey's career. So we can all be on the same page about this. He has ALWAYS been a busy man.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bunnymoon

I made a post on my Bluesky of the game's patch history since 4.4 and major events in Bailey's career. So we can all be on the same page about this. He has ALWAYS been a busy man.

---

Whoa, amazing work in compiling this. This really proves that Bailey has been extremely busy from the very start of his run as G'raha.

... And yet he has never once sounded the way he did 7.4. I'll just invite everyone clinging with certainty that this is definitely Bailey and calling recast concerns "overreactions" to reflect on that. But again, that's not the main debate—the obfuscation of his voice from the trailer and the lack of clarity from SE is.

(Additionally, this really shows that no matter how busy he got, Bailey never gave up on G'raha. Ever.)

I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said but I just wanted to echo those asking for some transparency from SE and/or the localization team. I waited to complete the patch before posting this because I wanted to hear the whole performance and to me it just does not sound like JB, and I would be lying if I said that didn't make me feel a little sad.

I really can't say with confidence whether or not it's Bailey, but I will say that poor voice setup and direction can go a long way (I do feel confident in bashing the setup even for a recast, it's jarring to hear the difference between the characters sometimes). Even the most talented female VAs often come out sounding like a knockoff Minnie Mouse when the director is negligent. Some of those takes really should've been redone, regardless of who was voicing them. To my ears, the accent is inconsistent between lines and at times the intonation is more akin to a shonen anime dub than the current FFXIV style. Voice direction as a whole in the games dubbing industry has really taken a turn for the worse recently imo, but I digress.

For those unable to tell, it is Jonathan Bailey, his voice is obviously just sore. You can tell it's him when he talks later in the patch, as certain vocal patterns match his. This is similar to when people thought Cid was recast, but the voice was just different because the VA had throat surgery. Only time will tell if SE will re-record these lines, similar to the Wuk Lamat lines in The Interphos trial. Plus if it helps Bailey himself said he loves the character and wouldn't give up voicing him for anything. If he was to be replaced, we'd probably hear something from him. Besides the HW shift, no VAs have been replaced unless an actor had passed away.

You know, I can't say whether or not it's JB. I really can't. All I can say is the following, and I hope someone at SE is reading because this is my only way to send a direct message, and even if they don't know anything or can't say anything I hope they can pass the message along to those who can speak/have the answers we're looking for:

Please. Please tell your players what's up here. Those of us commenting/following this forum thread are only a small portion of the fanbase that is very torn and very emotional over the idea that JB could have been recast, and we need facts and confirmation in order to process whatever the bottom line is. Me, personally, I don't want to crash out over this when I have irl obligations that require my focus and holidays that can already be stressful for those of us living in, at the very least, the NA/EU servers, definitely part of OCE too. But it's not about me - it's about the community as a whole.

There are people who are going to be pissed at whatever the situation is, that's unavoidable. But I know I'm more upset with the radio silence, and that can be just as maddening.

So, like...for the sake of the players. Tell us. Be honest in an official communication. It needs to be addressed. Rampant and unchecked speculation/uncertainty is only going to hurt the community, and honestly, I don't want that for anyone. I'd like to think others wouldn't want that, too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by claustromania

He did star as the leading role in Richard II earlier this year, Feb thru May, doing something like seven or eight shows a week. If it is in fact JB in 7.4 and his lines were recorded during that period, that could explain why his voice sounds so wrecked and the sound quality is shot (recording on the go). He mentioned that his performance in Company was the reason for his swollen tongue issues back in that BAFTA interview last year, and that wasn't even a leading role. Or, if it isn't JB, it might explain why they had a stand-in this patch that is hopefully temporary.

---

I saw that play several times spread out over several weeks and I can assure you that he sounded like he always does every single time - also on phone videos people took of him in the earlier days when he was still coming out after the show. Same goes for pretty much every interview he's given the last few months that I saw, and it was quite a few.
For him to sound like he did in the new patch, he would have had to have the worst setup in the world, and be close to death physically probably.
And to reiterate, whoever voiced G'raha this time wasn't bad per se; his performance just completely changes his personality to a point where he feels like a completely different person, and that's my issue with it all.

But to echo what a lot of others here have said: It's moot to keep speculating.
We deserve an official statement, and I hope we'll get it soon - and that this is just a temporary fix to a temporary problem, not a permanent recast for whatever reason.

I 100% agree with others here that if this recast happens, my motivation to play the game will very much be reduced to subbing for a month at a time when new expacs release, and to maybe logging in now and then for ShB and EW replays, but not to a point where I'll regularly pay the monthly sub plus max retainers and app because I wanna get as much out of the experience as possible, with Trust runs and cutscene rewatches and story replays. The game lives and dies with its characters and story - the story wasn't all that great lately, and with the character I love most and am looking forward to most in new content gone or completely altered, I'll not see much point in coming back that much anymore tbh.

Hope we'll get clarity soon.