Directive 8020, the latest entry in Supermassive Games' Dark Pictures Anthology, leans hard on cinematic performance, with motion capture, likeness scans, and voice work all handled by the same cast. The crew of the colony ship Cassiopeia is built around ten actors, led by Lashana Lynch as pilot Brianna Young.
Quick answer: Lashana Lynch (Young), Danny Sapani (Stafford), Lotte Verbeek (Eisele), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Williams), Anna Leong Brophy (Cooper), Kathryn Wilder (Anders), Colin Bates (Mitchell), Philip Arditti (Cernan), Anneika Rose (Simms), and Frank Blake (Carter) make up the principal cast.
Directive 8020 full voice cast
Each performer provides voice, performance capture, and facial likeness for their character aboard the Cassiopeia. The roles split between five core playable officers who anchor the bulk of the game and two sleep technicians featured in the opening episode.
| Actor | Character | Role on the Cassiopeia |
|---|---|---|
| Lashana Lynch | Brianna Young | Pilot |
| Danny Sapani | Stafford | Captain |
| Lotte Verbeek | Laura Eisele | First officer |
| Kobna Holdbrook-Smith | Lamarcus Williams | Company CEO |
| Anna Leong Brophy | Dr. Samantha Cooper | Ship's doctor, former marine |
| Kathryn Wilder | Zoe Anders | Science officer |
| Colin Bates | Noah Mitchell | Engineer |
| Philip Arditti | Josef Cernan | Engineer |
| Anneika Rose | Pari Simms | Sleep technician |
| Frank Blake | Tomas Carter | Sleep technician |
Lashana Lynch as Brianna Young
Lynch fronts the cast as Young, the Cassiopeia's pilot and one of the game's primary protagonists. The character is written as a rising astronaut at Corinth, carrying a family legacy and unresolved grief into the mission.
Outside of Directive 8020 (her first video game role), Lynch is recognised as Nomi, the 00 agent in No Time to Die, and as Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel and The Marvels. She also led The Woman King, played Miss Honey in Matilda the Musical, and starred as Bianca Pullman in The Day of the Jackal. She won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2022.
Danny Sapani as Captain Stafford
Sapani plays the Cassiopeia's commanding officer. His screen credits include Sembene in Penny Dreadful, Jamie in Killing Eve, and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in The Crown. Genre audiences will know him from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Black Panther films, and Doctor Who. He also voiced Captain Jacob Keyes in Halo, making Directive 8020 a return to the medium rather than a debut.
Lotte Verbeek as Laura Eisele
The Dutch actress takes on the role of Eisele, Stafford's first officer. Verbeek is widely recognised as Giulia Farnese in The Borgias and Geillis Duncan in Outlander, with further film work in The Fault in Our Stars, The Last Witch Hunter, Nuremberg, and The Book of Vision. Directive 8020 marks her first gaming role.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Lamarcus Williams
Holdbrook-Smith voices Williams, the CEO of the company funding the Tau Ceti f colonisation effort. His most prominent screen work includes Templeman Frye in Mary Poppins Returns, Crispus Allen in the DC Extended Universe, and Officer Affable in Wonka. More recently, he featured in Dreaming Whilst Black and has been cast in Greta Gerwig's upcoming Narnia: The Magician's Nephew.
Anna Leong Brophy as Dr. Samantha Cooper
Leong Brophy plays Cooper, a former marine serving as the ship's doctor. On screen she is known as Tamar Kir-Bataar in Netflix's Shadow and Bone, with credits in Ragdoll, Traces, and How to Train Your Dragon. She is also the most experienced gaming performer in the cast, with prior work on Baldur's Gate 3, Horizon Forbidden West, Rise of the Rōnin, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and Total War: Warhammer 3.
Kathryn Wilder as Zoe Anders
Wilder voices Anders, the Cassiopeia's science officer. Her screen credits include Judith Shakespeare in All Is True, Anna in Two Heads Creek, Blair Hartman in True Detective, and Chaulk in Frontier. She has a strong stage background, including Shakespeare productions where she has played Ophelia in Hamlet and Peta in Romeo and Juliet.
Colin Bates as Noah Mitchell
Bates, a British-American actor, plays the engineer Mitchell. He is recognised as Shane McReynolds in HBO's Task, with recurring TV roles in American Rust, Mayans MC, and Sneaky Pete. His film work includes Queer and Carjackers. Directive 8020 is his first credit in video games.
Philip Arditti as Josef Cernan
Arditti voices the second engineer, Cernan, written as a philosophically inclined member of the crew. He first drew attention as Uday Hussein in the 2008 docudrama House of Saddam and has since appeared in Casualty, Spooks, and Silent Witness. He also has an extensive theatre résumé covering the National Theatre, Soho Theatre, and Shakespeare's Globe.
Anneika Rose as Pari Simms
Rose plays Simms, one of the two sleep technicians who open the game. The Scottish actress is known for playing Maggie Kean in Shetland, PC Farida Jatri in Line of Duty, Lila Shariff in Ackley Bridge, and Abhi in Crossfire. She has also performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in roles such as Juliet, Hero, Hermia, and Queen Isabel in Richard II.
Frank Blake as Tomas Carter
Irish actor Frank Blake voices Carter, Simms' fellow sleep technician. His screen credits include Alan in Normal People, Shane Bradley in Blue Lights, Seamus Wright in Say Nothing, and Captain Declan Fraser in Sanditon, with theatre appearances at Dublin's Gate Theatre in The Glass Menagerie and an adaptation of Asking For It.
The Curator returns
Pip Torrens reprises the role of the Curator, the omnipresent narrator who has linked every Dark Pictures Anthology entry. Rather than appearing between scenes as in earlier games, the character is tied to a late-game O Death Secret in Directive 8020, with glimpses surfacing before deaths once that collectible chain is unlocked.
The character continues to use the likeness of the late Tony Pankhurst, who modelled the Curator from the series' debut, with Torrens providing the voice. Together with the principal cast, this rounds out the named performers driving Directive 8020's story across its eight episodes.