Life Is Strange Reimagined: An Interview With Voice Actress Hannah Telle

Calling all alt and indie-aesthetic people: mark your calendars for September 10th. The continuation of the beloved Life is Strange series continues with Life is Strange: True Colors. Just recently, Square Enix announced the newest choose-your-own path game featuring a protagonist that can feel other people’s emotions. This empathetic character continues the theme of the supernatural powers associated with Life is Strange stories. 

I first connected with the Life Is Strange series during quarantine in April of 2020 when I played the original game. Life is Strange (the original story) was released on January 30th, 2015, and has since touched the lives of thousands. The game received several awards such as Best Original Game and Best Adventure at the 2015 Global Game Awards. It’s unique storyline launched it into success, and several games have followed it. And In addition to True Colors, Square Enix is also releasing a remastered version of this original game with improved graphics. 

The story I connected with follows Max Caulfeild (voice-acted by Hannah Telle), a shy 18-year-old girl attending Blackwell Academy, a prestigious high school in the fictional town of Arcadia Bay Oregon. At the beginning of the first episode, Max discovered that she can time travel while attempting to save a girl who she later finds out is Chloe Price, her childhood best friend. Throughout five long episodes, Max and Chole reconnect while simultaneously attempting to find Chole’s missing best friend and once lover Rachel Amber. Many players specifically connected with this game due to the relatability of the awkward characters, the choose-your-own path format, and the soft indie-music soundtrack. I truly felt immersed throughout Max and Chloe’s journey. 

After the success of the first game, Square Enix produced and Dontnod Entertainment developed the prequel of the same story: Life is Strange Before the Storm. Released on August 31st, 2017, this story followed Chloe and Rachel before Rachel went missing, and also touched on the same emotional elements as the first game, with a similar soundtrack and improved graphics. Then, one year later, Life is Strange 2 was released. The second installment of Life is Strange showcased an entirely different story, this time focusing on male protagonists: Sean Diaz and his younger brother Daniel. The game proceeded to take home Best Performer in a Leading Role at the 2020 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Game Awards.

I had the amazing opportunity to virtually “sit down” with Hannah Telle who voice-acted for Max Caulfield, the main character of the original Life is Strange game. Not only is Max my favorite character across the franchise, but her quirky and relatable nature also hits home with many players across the world! Here is the interview:

[UNPUBLISHED:] Tell me about yourself!

[HANNAH:] I'm a college student and this is my second time going back to school. I'm graduating in December from USC. I've been doing some new voiceover jobs on a couple of new games that I don't even know the name of. I just know their code name. I’ve also been working on recording my third record, and I have four cats which are my ultimate joys!

[UNPUBLISHED:] How was getting the opportunity to work with the cast?

[HANNAH:] It was awesome. The majority of the time I was by myself and that's kind of difficult because you don't have anyone to help you get in the zone. You just have to use your imagination. But when there's a cast member there, they bring this different energy to the room and the scene really comes alive and it feels very real. When two actors are acting together, you transcend into this really cool psychological time and space that's so weird, cool, and creative. It was a really great experience to get to work with the actors on this project because they were all very talented.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Are there any ways that you personally connected with Max as a character? 

[HANNAH:] Yes, in so many ways. Honestly, the only way that I didn’t connect with Max, was the fact that I don't have powers. I connected with her on everything else that she was going through, even down to the ways that she would interact with Warren (the guy that had a crush on her). The way that she would carry herself in the earlier episodes, in terms of feeling introverted and shy, but also really wanting to stand up for what's right and knowing that she has a strong opinion and learning how to voice that. That is something that I'm still learning to this day. It was a very big learning experience for me to get to go on that journey with Max and it's still very relevant to me now, even as an adult. Also what really helped me relate to Max was her relationship with music. When I was Max's age I had my headphones on in my little portable CD player and music was constantly playing. It helped to have my own soundtrack going and it felt like I was living in my own little movie. I related when Max goes about her day and she's walking through the halls of the school and you hear her personal soundtrack playing.

[UNPUBLISHED:] When it came out, did you play the game?

[HANNAH:] At the time, I didn’t have a gaming system, and when the game first came out I was not in a place mentally where I could revisit anything to do with the game. To act for the game, I had to conjure up a lot of really intense psychological trauma to act in a way that would be believable. I got stuck in some dark places. I was so close to Max, so it took me a while. But eventually, a couple of actors involved with the game that worked with Square Enix had a Twitch stream where we all play the game together in a group. That was much easier for me and I was able to play through. We ended up playing most of the episodes, and then I played the final episode with just the girl who plays Kate Marsh on her stream channel. I have played the game, but never by myself. It's also hard to make those decisions. Especially when we play the second episode when you are trying to figure out the correct thing to say to Kate to save her, and I was so stressed because it was so realistic.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have a favorite moment in the game that's more light-hearted?

[HANNAH:] My favorite moments in the game were scenes when Max is by herself or having a calm moment. I love when she comments on the atmosphere or the vibe in a room. It really reminds me of those little moments by ourselves, and those were sometimes hard to record to make them sound natural. When I played the game, those were my favorite parts. I also really like the interaction between Max and the different animals, like Samuel and the squirrels. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] If you could say anything to fans of the games or your music, what would you say?

[HANNAH:] I would say trust your taste. Trust what makes you happy, what makes you feel excited, and what pleases you, whether or not that’s what’s popular or trending. Listen to what makes you feel good and following the things that are interesting to you, even if it’s not what your peers are doing. Don’t think that because you have a different interest it makes you weird, it just means that you are following your own path.