Sometimes, society needs a wake up call to face encroaching tyranny head on. Someone to fuel the fire of freedom and liberty. Someone whose face and voice will spur us into action. John Helldiver did that for us in Helldivers 2. He warned us of the threat that the bugs, bots, and squids pose on our family and Super Earth itself.
Craig Lee Thomas’ brilliant performance in Helldivers 2’s opening sequence not only captured that threat that we face in the game, but also sets up its satirical and over-the-top tone brilliantly. Thomas’ performance is beloved by the community, earning him the title of ‘John Helldiver’. So how did he become a Super Earth legend?
The Making Of John Helldiver
As part of the game’s two-year anniversary, Arrowhead put out a behind-the-scenes video, featuring Thomas and how he became the spokesperson for Managed Democracy. Along with former lead writer Russ Nickel, Thomas spoke about creating the character, capturing the game’s satirical tone, and the casting process.
“From the initial audition, you read for what you can as an actor and you get excited about so many things,” said Thomas. “But this in particular, as soon as I read it, I was like, ahh, I really, really, really want to do this.“
Nickel spoke about how quick the casting happened after finishing the script. “Casting was crazy,” he said. “I did all the writing and then the script went off sort of into the abyss and I didn’t hear anything for a while. Then I found out that it was going to shoot in a week. They actually hadn’t really done any casting. They were just going to use this actor who’s based in Sweden, who was perfectly good, but I was like, This is going to be John Helldiver! I didn’t know that would be his name at the time. We can’t just get someone who’s good. Like, we need to get the funniest person we can possibly find.”
Thomas revealed that he got an email from his agent at 10AM on a random Tuesday, with almost no turnaround time. So, he bothered his wife to shoot the audition tape, which the video also showed. It looks a bit more serious, but we can see glimpses of the final version in it. Of course, the version we all love is way more hammy.
“Like within a couple days, I had gotten self tapes from Craig Lee Thomas who plays John Helldiver,” added Nickel. “He’s perfect. I love that man. He’s so good!” Thomas had no idea how fast everything would go. That very afternoon, he was told that he was in the top-three, and the next day he was told that he got the role and that shooting would begin on Sunday.
The video continued to reveal the production and motion capture process of the final intro sequence, and even mentioned into how nobody could stop laughing at Thomas’ over-the-top performance.
- Released
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February 8, 2024
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
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Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
