Matthew Porretta Talks Remedy Characters, the Game Awards, and More
It’s a bright Tuesday morning and actor Matthew Porretta is talking to TVPulse Magazine via video link from the quiet kitchen of his Connecticut home.
The actor is well known for his film roles in such titles as Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and loving it, as well as a slew of TV credits including The Blacklist, The Good Wife, CSI: New York, Beverley Hills 90210, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, and more. However for many, Matthew Porretta is most synonymous with the character of Alan Wake. The character is Finnish game studio Remedy Entertainment’s most enduring character, and one Porretta has been voicing for 14 years — in the original title Alan Wake, its recent sequel, Alan Wake 2, in 2019’s Control, and a host of DLCs.
First released in 2010, Alan Wake introduced players to the troubled novelist whose battle with supernatural darkness would become one of gaming’s most psychologically rich narratives. Porretta’s voice performance as Alan was measured, weary, but also increasingly fractured over the duration of the game, and famously grounded Alan Wake’s surreal horror with a crucial sense of emotional realism. Alan Wake soon evolved into Remedy’s defining character, anchoring the studio’s growing reputation for ambitious, story-driven experiences.
That legacy deepened with 2023’s Alan Wake 2, a sequel more than a decade in the making. The game, an out and out supernatural horror this time around, expands Alan’s internal struggle into a dual-protagonist narrative, weaving together live-action elements, an ambitious musical sequence, and a far darker exploration of identity and authorship. Porretta’s performance is notably more layered here, as Alan oscillates between despair, defiance, and self-awareness within the ever-shifting Dark Place. His portrayal of Mr. Scratch, Alan’s malevolent doppelgänger, evolves too, offering a chilling counterpoint to the character fans have followed for years.
However, between these two psychologically taxing titles came Control (2019), Remedy’s critically acclaimed supernatural action game, which quietly confirmed that Alan Wake existed within a larger shared universe. Porretta appeared this time as Dr. Casper Darling, the eccentric and unsettling head of research at the Federal Bureau of Control. Unlike Alan, Darling is outwardly confident, enthusiastic, and enigmatic. The role allowed Porretta to explore a very different energy, while still contributing to Remedy’s broader themes of altered realities, hidden dimensions, and the cost of forbidden knowledge. Darling’s cryptic video messages (and his later connections to figures like Thomas Zane) have since become key points of fascination for fans parsing Remedy’s increasingly interconnected storytelling.
Together, Alan Wake, Alan Wake 2, and Control showcase not only Remedy’s evolution as a studio, but also Porretta’s unique place within its creative identity. Across multiple characters and genres, his performances have helped define a universe where voice, music, and narrative experimentation intersect, and it’s one that continues to grow with each new release.
Porretta’s portrayal of Alan Wake has also crossed studio boundaries this year. The actor recently reprised the role for Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight, bringing the iconic character into the long-running multiplayer horror title as part of a high-profile crossover. The appearance translated Alan’s internal monologue and exhausted determination into a new format, positioning him as a survivor trapped in yet another nightmarish reality.
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In our following interview we ask Matthew Porretta to go behind the scenes of his long history with Remedy. Over the course of an hour he reveals how it feels to inhabit Alan Wake alongside Finnish actor Ilkka Villi who provides the character’s physical likeness, and where both upcoming Alan Wake DLCs (Night Springs and The Lake House) might take his various characters.
Also under discussion, Porretta’s early musical career, the cast’s triumphant live performance of the in-game musical number Herald of Darkness on Dec. 7 for the annual Video Game Awards in Los Angeles, and how he almost missed out on performing the iconic dance sequence on stage to a streamed audience of 180 million people.
Porretta also talks Scratch and Mr. Scratch — Alan’s evil Dark Place doppelgängers who have evolved right along with Remedy’s connected universe. Control’s Dr. Casper Darling’s unique appeal, despite questionable ethics, is also explored, along with Darling’s relationship to Villi’s murky agenda-driven Thomas Zane, both of whom were last seen in 3 intriguing Alan Wake 2 easter egg videos for Remedy’s upcoming projects.
Matthew was also at hand to answer a number of fan questions on acting, audio books, his early musical career, and just how he managed to sound so convincing when voicing for Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight, for which he reprised his role as Alan Wake in what he playfully refers to as an “Alan Wake road trip.”
This latest performance reinforces how inseparable his voice has become from the character, even outside Remedy’s own games.
Catch Matthew Porretta’s full interview below.
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