Who is the returning character? (Returning characters officially confirmed!)
On the latest interview about The Final Season, Creative Director Kent Muddle outright confirms that there will be returning characters this season (something interesting considering on the previous interviews, both Melissa and James seemed to have reservations about commenting on returning characters at all):
Interviewer: I must say that I'm pretty excited that Clementine is back as the main character but can we expect to see more of Javier too?
Kent: We will not be seeing the Garcias in this season. There will be some returning character from previous seasons, but not Javier specifically.
Now, besides leaving it clear as water we will be getting returning characters, and that those characters are not part of the ANF cast (God bless), Kent curiously pauses to specify that there will be some returning characters coming back. It could be simply over analyzing, but could Kent be implying that we will be getting more than one returning character?
Now for the actual speculation:
- How do you feel about returning characters in general? (Do you think it's credible and realistic, or utterly immersion breaking and overdone?)
- Do you believe there will be more than one returning character?
Who do you think this character is? (And if you believe there might be more than one character returning, who do you think they are?)
- Do you think this is necessarily someone from Clem's past, or do you think it could be someone from 400 days or even Michonne (Nate, Eddie, Sam, Paige...)?
What role do you believe this(these) character(s) will play in the story?
- Do you believe it a good writing decision to include them? Or does it smell too much like senseless fan service?
- James mentioned that adults will represent an "outside thread". With pretty much every single contender for the returning character role being an adult (side from Alex and James in Michonne), what are the chances the retuning character plays an antagonistic role?
Finally, could returning characters simply mean flashback cameos?
Post your thoughts down below!
Link link to IGN's interview: click/tap (00:53 - Kent's confirmation)
Link to the PC Gamer interview: click/tap (1:41:35 - Adults as the external threat)
Comments
Well let's see:
If I remember correctly I believe I read that staff from the team behind Michonne are working on TFS, so the Fairbanks could possibly return (if I got the timeline right the two Fairbank kids would be in the same age range as the main cast of kids after the time jump, so that's something to consider.)
Christa's voice actor dropped hints that her character would be returning on Twitter a few months ago. Add that with Christa having the popular vote on what character to bring back and her returning is very likely.
As far as adult antagonists go, Nate and to a lesser extent Lilly would both serve as the traditional variety of that role (though that doesn't exactly mean they're likely to return) while Christa could possibly be portrayed as a tragic villain of sorts.
I hope Lilly and Christa return and are revealed as a couple.
They’ve literally never met tho
wtf
Okay, hopefully this will be THE returning character thread going forward and we can cut back on making so many, eh?
I know I've got a multitude of points, entries, and contributions to several similar threads, enough that I'm pretty sure I stockpiled some of them in one place not too long ago.
To address the citations there, I can't help but notice that he seems to only focus on the Garcias, specifically singling out Javier. Almost makes you wonder for a second.
Anyway, the questions!
I don't mind them at all. The only real example we've had thus far was bad/controversial for very legit reasons and considering who/what that character was, Telltale has little excuse to make a similar overwhelming choice.
Eh, maybe. Depending on which of the two/three biggest significant returnees end up being, I may or may not be fine with just one/two.
Christa. All evidence more or less points to it being her, including stuff from when the previous installment was on the way to premiering.
Even if the premise has considerably changed from what we were led to assume it would be last year, she can still be fit in either way.
With that said, if she does end the one return in the previous question, I would definitely be at least a little upset that they didn't go with two characters.
It's almost a complete given. For better or worse, this is and has almost always been considered "Clementine's story" and thus a good majority of the candidates has some sort of history with her.
In terms of 400 Days, Becca is more or less obsolete at this point and would probably require an overhaul at this point to fit in. More or less indifferent/doubtful to everyone else and Wyatt.
Add in Sam being determinantly dead for some people and the Fairbanks boys would fit right in anyway despite being from the Michonne DLC. Though part of me is still a mite uneasy about putting Alex anywhere near the same story as Clementeen.
Okay, now this is where it gets...how should put this...complicated.
On one hand, there is an appeasement to be had in getting an older/established character in there to provide a sense of denouncement/familiarity and help give Clementine more [proper] personal material/context to work with. On the other, it would be so damn easy for characters to be to once a-fuckin-gain check off a list and meet some sort of quota.
I mean, I think it's pretty obvious what kinds of roles, purposes, and ancillary characteristics certain characters could and/or are expected to fulfill just with their established presence . I've had my thoughts, theories, and expectations out there for a while anyway, so I'm not sure if I should continue or not, whether off the top of my head or through cannibalized material.
Honestly, I'd doesn't matter quite that much at this point. It's subtitled "The Final Season" after all and we've fallen to a point where a little so called "fanservice" beyond the beyond protracted Lee, Jane, and especially Kenny stuff is honestly mostly harmless and even welcomed by a more than fair number.
Granted, I'm someone who stated that having a cast of other kids/youths for Clementine to interact with was something the series had repeatedly underutilized criminally as well as stating that "Clementine's Story" would really have to do something interesting/unsafe to help a healthy amount of people give much of a shit and those ended up coming true, so how much do I truly know?
Considering the reputations/backstories and [mis]understandings/interpretations of an alarming number of them, pretty damn high.
For worse or for better.
That would a great way of going about some of it, yes. In fact, it was something of an expectation and opportunity that ANF's stated format inherently encouraged and missed out on.
My main priority on the subject is still the same though--work in at least some characters that are generally overlooked (in-universe and out) and/or didn't get many opportunities to shine. Use the outlet to give more context on them, their backstories, and their relationships with Clementine.
How often has that stopped sheeple?
I think there will be a Lee flashback, and I have an odd feeling that you're going to have to make a location choice. One location will have Lilly return, the other will have Christa.
Disappointed. I’d really hoped they wouldn’t bring back characters for this season. If it was Mike and Arvo i might just accept it but i dont want Lilly or Christa to return
Kenny ofcourse.
Nate and Christa......nate the villain of the season with his community and Christa is one of his community.....would be interesting to say the least if done well.
Shame. I was hoping for a follow up for the Garcia family.
Well, that's a dark horse if I ever did see one.
They never explicitly said it wouldn't be characters from ANF, they just said it wouldn't be any of the Garcias. For all we know (and I hope its not because they're waste of characters), the returning character could be either Joan or Clint. Remember, whoever lived completely vanished after Episode 4, they may be out there somewhere. And if a threat is going to consist from adults, it could be possible that they're a part of it.
Mixed. While I'm glad they brought Kenny back in S2, I can't deny his presence took some of the attention away from the cabin group. That and, as you said, it's immersion breaking and overdone. If it were to be someone like Christa or Lily, it would just come off as highly unlikely that we would just so happen to come across them again after all these years.
It'll probably just be one. He did say "character," not "characters." Although, he could just be saying that to avoid spoilers, but if that were the case, he wouldn't have revealed that there would be at least one character returning any way. So my bet is on one character returning.
While I wouldn't like it, I feel the most likely choice would be Clint or Joan, just because the time between ANF and TFS isn't as big as Season 1 (Lily) or Season 2 (Christa) and Clem and AJ will probably still be in relative proximity to where them showing up wouldn't be completely shocking or unrealistic.
As for characters I would love to see come back, it would be Mike, Bonnie, and Arvo...so I can finally kill them. But since I think the most likely are Clint/Joan, I will use them for the answers going forward.
They will be the villains, or at least minor antagonists.
Neither. No one cared enough about them from the previous season to justify bringing them back for "fan service" and including such poorly written villains back for this season, instead of coming up with something original would certainly not be good writing. Their presence would just tarnish the whole game.
Pretty high if my prediction is correct. I can't see either of them, especially Joan, regretting what they did or playing anything but a villain.
It's possible, yes. But after ANF, I'm tired of flashbacks. Do I wish I had more time with Kenny than what we got in ANF, yeah, but if you just keep putting him in flashbacks, it doesn't change anything, he's still dead, and at some point, it just becomes more of a distraction than anything else.
If Christa came back it would really sell the series as a complete unit, so Christa's the one who needs to come back to finish her story. The rest would just be add ons. I'd like to see Mike Bonnie and Arvo show up again too, since there was that choice that was change from killing Mike.
I’d like to see those tweets from Christa’s voice actor allegedly “dropping hints.”
The people who think we are gonna see both Christa AND Lilly are really pushing it. Cameos are fine, but it’s a big world out there....let’s focus on new characters please.
If they are really going to bring back one (or some) of the characters from previous seasons then... well, I might be in a minority but I'd like to see Molly again. She was a great character in Season 1 and we don't really know what happened with her. She might still be alive, she might be dead but that's my bet in this matter.
She was already tough in season 1, independent and smart so I'd like to see how much she could change in all those years since we last saw her.
TT pls!
Christa and Lily would be really cool. Arvo, Mike and Bonnie might be interesting too.
Found it from this thread.
Doesn't mean it's completely confirmed of course but it is a tease regardless
Molly is a slightly revised version of Jane (in fact, I believe Telltale originally intended Molly to return in S2 in Jane's role, someone correct me if I'm wrong). Do we really need another Jane? I'd rather avoid the redundancy...
I asked a similiar question back in Season 2 in regars to Jane because did we really need another Molly. Tbh I like Molly more than Jane cause the later was a bi... I'm sorry, she was not cool.
Oh, I agree about Jane. But I think there were signs in S1 E4 that Molly would have been the same way (she just didn't have enough time and development in the group):
Yeah, I agree that Jane is basically a copied and paste version of Molly in many ways. I'm just saying that as a character I like Molly more and I'd be more than happy to see her again in some future series.
Right....but ignoring the fact that Molly only appeared in one episode (and thus got less screen time than Jane to show her true colors and betray Clem), I guess I'm just curious what significant difference in personality or survival ability exists between the two that you like one of them so much more than the other.
Honestly? For one, she didn't conspired to have one of the members of the group to be killed, I loved her parkour... and to be fair, I like her despite the fact that she had less screen time because she was the original. :P I'm not ignoring that Molly appeared in just one episode, I simply chose to like her more despite that fact.
My point about Molly only appearing in episode 1 is that she didn't get the chance to conspire against a member of the group. In other words, lets assume Jane only appeared in 1 episode (and thus never pulled that stunt with AJ). What significant differences between Molly and Jane would then exist? I'm betting Jane has parkour skills as well, but I guess I can concede that point since we don't know for sure....
The problem is, she didn't and its hard for me to think "what if" in that matter. Anyway, does there have to be a significant difference between them for me to like one more? I don't know exactly why, but I know there is more than one reason why I like Molly more as a character. Does that fact that I can't specify the exact reasons mean my opinion is less valuable or not valueble at all?
Then again, when you think about it, you could use the same argument about revised characters with Christa for example. Rebecca from Season 2 was basically Christa in many ways. Still, there are many people who would love for Christa to make a come back.
The only people who could make an appearance are Christa, Lilly, Glenn, Molly, Mike, Bonnie, Arvo, and probably a 400 Days character. If they're bringing back a teenager, that leaves Gabriel, Becca, and James(Michonne). Just my guess.
See, the thing with Molly is that I would think that if Telltale was gonna do a spinoff with an established character, it'd be her. Which, incidentally, makes her one of the characters I don't really see much correlation to bringing back into Clementine's context.
To be fair, the Molly 2.0 thing was something of a blanket comparison to make. That Telltale themselves not so subtly invoked, but still.
They are actually very different in their characterizations, presentations, and outlooks beyond the "Badass Orange Chick in Episode 4" thing.
With that said, there was stuff like this out there.
Just sayin.
Eh, they were both kinda vexing, to be honest, but Jane was definitely the worse morally and tonally.
Generally speaking, yes.
Eeeh, not really?
To be fair in that instance, there's just as much evidence/"evidence" to suggest that setup went either way, with concept art suggesting it wasn't exactly the intent.
And the other end, Christa is a Season 1 character that didn't actually do much besides initially question Lee's wisdom and ability as a guardian/parental figure(regardless of whether players think it's justified/warranted/innocent), while Rebecca is generally seen as the worst member of the Cabin Group and a poorly developed character, even if she's technically/theoretically the more interesting of the two.
I agree, I don't think she's a good candidate to return to Clem's story. But I also see a problem with her starring in a spin-off...we already know too much about the tragic aspects of her backstory. Probably better to start with a fresh character, where we learn his/her past trials and tribulations gradually throughout the game.
It essentially be the Michonne DLC in theory, but I guess I see your point.
Did they fully explain what happened to Michonne's children in the comics (at the time this DLC was released)? I'm not sure because I never read the comics. I always assumed that the flashbacks/hallucinations she was experiencing were kind of filling in some missing details. So yeah, in that way, they could do the same with Molly.
From what I'm told, no. In fact, I think Lelouche said her children were seldom really addressed.
I've read the comics and I believe it won't be a spoiler if I say that there was no way for Telltale to explain what happened with Michonne's daughters through hallucinations and flashback, since basically what Kirkman established in the comics is that Michonne came back to her home to find her daughters but they weren't there so she doesn't really know what happened. Her hallucinations were just a manifestation of fear that they might be dead and she wasn't there to protect them.
That was back then. Since that time their fate was kind of revealed but I'm not going to say anything since THAT would be a spoiler.
May I ask then: Does the DLC/Miniseries have any bearing on that or was it also ignored?
So some returning characters huh? Hoping for Lily and Molly althought im sure Christa s probably returning and that Molly s gonna continue to be unknown but i wouldnt mind seeing Christa again even if she s not that high up on my list of returning characters also no i dont mind returning characters.
Also as for a role which these characters could play:
Christa: i wouldnt want to have Christa be an extreme part of the story so maybe just have her be a part of the group after meeting her but staying as more of a side character.
Lily: Honestly what i d want for Lily would be more or less like Bonnie just have her be part of the antagonist s group then have her betray them and join your group.
Molly: Honestly im not sure what Molly could do i just liked her character and want to see her again.
You mean like did the events of the Miniseries were even mentioned in the comics or what? I don't seem to understand your question.