Voice actors Hannah Telle and Rhianna DeVries are bringing real-world intensity to what may be their final performance together in Life is Strange: Reunion. The upcoming narrative adventure, releasing March 26 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, marks an unusual turn for the franchise: both characters are playable, and both actors are drawing on personal experience to bring emotional depth to a story about survival and second chances.
The actors can't share much about how the story ends, other than what their personal experiences were playing Max and Chloe for ostensibly the last time. But DeVries went further in interviews. Speaking to 9news.com.au, the actor revealed that a near-death experience shaped her approach to portraying Chloe in this instalment. It's a decision that gives the character's internal struggle a visceral grounding; Chloe arrives at Caledon University haunted by memories of life or death that she may or may not have lived out.
For Telle, the emotional weight lies in finality. "It was weighing on me while we made the game that this was my last time to play Max," Telle told Variety. "It's hard to let her go and to understand I gave everything that I had and put all my life experience and personal trauma and pain and love and joy. Everything I experienced in my own life, I put into relating to her life and portraying her story as best as I could." That willingness to fold autobiography into performance defines both voice actors' approach, particularly when the game itself explores how choices in one timeline reverberate into others.
A Decade-Long Partnership Comes Full Circle
Telle has played Max throughout all the installments in the Life is Strange video game franchise, while DeVries took on the role of Chloe after original actor Ashly Burch departed the 2017 project amid a voice actors strike. DeVries' surprise return initially seemed unlikely. "I did not think that Chloe would be returning. Especially after we finished filming 'Before the Storm,' it was made pretty clear that it's very unlikely that Chloe would return outside of little cameos or things like that."
The reunion itself became a reunion. Learning that the game offers the unique feature of playing as both Max and Chloe made the role feel significant again. DeVries called it life-changing; Telle reflected on the broader legacy, noting that "There's been many Superman actors, and I'm sure there'll be many Maxs and many Chloes. But it has been the ultimate honour of my life and acting career to get to be Max Caulfield, and I am so grateful".
The narrative they're anchoring is substantial. Chloe reunites with Max at Caledon University as the former needs help dealing with memories of a life or death she did not live out, amidst the imminent coming of a destructive inferno threatening to destroy the campus. Unlike previous entries, Reunion is not episodic; instead, the entire story will be available to play from day one.
What remains to be seen is whether Telle's statement about this being the final performance truly stands. Amazon recently cast Maisy Stella and Tatum Grace Hopkins in the roles of Chloe and Max, respectively, in its live-action "Life Is Strange" TV series. For now, though, this game represents something rarer in entertainment: two performers who have lived with their characters for nearly a decade, infusing them with genuine stakes, both narrative and personal.