While Saga Anderson has made her official debut in Alan Wake II, it seems the character was recast from her earlier Easter Egg appearances.
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After being announced in December 2021 — and interspersed with Alan Wake’s American Nightmare and the “AWE” DLC for Control revealing a shared “Remedy universe”— Alan Wake II finally has a release date. The latest trailer and gameplay premiere revealed the game will launch October 17th, but also something else.
New character and joint protagonist FBI Agent Saga Anderson had appeared before and was played by a different actress. In Remedy’s 2015 Holiday video we see a Caucasian woman with the name “Saga Anderson” written on her agent badge.
The actress is Malla Malmivaara — as confirmed in 2015 by Creative Director and Lead Writer Sam Lake — when he shared Remedy’s video on Twitter. At the time, Lake also revealed who he played on Twitter, writing, “FBI Agents Saga Anderson & Alex Casey hard at work, looking for a missing writer. #QuantumBreak #AlanWake.”
The scene would later re-appear in 2016’s Quantum Break. Including other Alan Wake Easter Eggs, the scene with Anderson and Casey is an in-universe trailer for a detective series or film called “Return.” This would seemingly be based on the manuscript of the same name from Alan Wake, as characters discuss events from that game, including with Wake himself — who makes an appearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbFqmP8CYxo
In Alan Wake II however, Anderson is instead played by Melanie Liburd (This Is Us, Power Book II: Ghost, The Idol). She is lending both her voice and appearance- common for major actors in video games, while other characters have different physical and voice actors (such as Alan Wake being played by Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta respectively).
Talking to Mark Delaney of Gamespot, Lake explained more about Anderson, alongside Liburd and performance director Hannah Price. Delaney reports the character was a collaborative effort between Lake, Price, and Liburd- as only her job and name were locked down.
After Lake discussed casting and “finding the character together” with the actor or actress, Price emphatically added “We really, really, really, really, really wanted Mel. We just felt like she was gonna bring so much to Saga so when she came on we were all just delighted.” She also noted that Liburd brought a little humor to the character.
Liburd also offered her thoughts on the character. “We talked about it from the beginning. How she’s such a well-rounded, full character even from the page that Sam created.”
“So it was just a really fun experience to discover more about her–what a great mother she is, and really what a geek she is about her job,” Liburd equally geeked out over. “She’s so into it and so passionate about what she does, which adds to the humor, you know, because she’s kind of crazy. She’ll walk into something that’s terrifying and just thrive off it.”
“Once you start playing it, it makes sense why she appears and why she needs to be there,” Liburd continued. “Because she does need to be there. Alan needs Saga, and Saga needs Alan. And that is the main thing that fans will understand when they see her.”
More was revealed about Anderson in Remedy’s own Behind The Scenes video. Lake emphasizes “We wanted to make sure absolutely sure that we find the right actor for the role, and we were looking for quite a while, for Saga.” He also notes working with Liburd to write Anderson “more and more specifically to her her as a role.”
Liburd discusses her work in Alan Wake II, adding “I’m excited for the world to see Saga, because I think she’s a brilliant role model, and just to see a woman in this role, a woman of color being a protagonist in a game, that we don’t see that often, and just to have a lifestyle that she has, doing her best to balance work and a family, and I just think that’s rally relatable for a lot of people.”
Not everyone was on board however, as some felt Anderson’s inclusion- let alone the recasting- was an attempt at diversity.
@MattFazer102 was one of a few voicing their concerns. “Ok, this worries me a lot.. and it’s that we waited more than 10 years to find out what happened to Alan Wake.. and now it turns out that they focus on A SECONDARY CHARACTER AND NOT ON THE PROTAGONIST. please, I hope i’m wrong… but something smells very wrong with this sequel.”
@Kigeki3 gave a more succinct and mocking theory on how Alan Wake II would play out. “can’t wait to play with a weak character who has to be saved every 10 min by the black girl placed there to raise esg score.”
ESG- Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance- refer to a series of goals that companies can aim for to showcase how “sustainable” they are to investors. With investing assets reaching $30 trillion in 2018, some have argued “woke” changes in media are merely the companies’ attempts to earn those investments, rather than actual wholehearted support of green or social issues.
Regardless, while some expressed confusion and doubt over the reasons for the casting, the vast majority of replies to Remedy’s recent tweets seem to indicate fans are excited for what Alan Wake II promises to bring in the next chapter.
