Matt Ryan still remembers the lie.When he first auditioned for what would become Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag,the project was pitched as a pirate TV show.Top secret.No script.Just scenes and a character description that felt,even then,electric.He went in blind,gave it everything,and when they called him back,they finally told him the truth:it was an Assassin's Creed game.Ryan had already played the first few entries.His response,he recalls,was immediate."Great,yeah."That was the easy part.What came next was an accident of geography that would define one of gaming's most beloved characters.When Ryan flew to Montreal to begin filming,he walked into a room full of producers who had only ever heard his audition tape.The problem?That tape featured a northern English accent."Oh,you sound different,"they told him.Ryan,confused,replied,"Yeah,well,this is my real voice."They asked where he was from."Swansea,"he said."In Wales."They asked if it was on the sea.It is.And just like that,Edward Kenway stopped being English and became Welsh.
Ryan,now returning as Edward for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced(out July 9 on PS5,Xbox Series X/S,and PC),has spent over a decade thinking about why this character endures.His answer is refreshingly simple:the arc.Edward starts as a ruthless nobody,clawing for fame and riches to give his wife a better life.He thinks he wants glory.He doesn't get what he thinks he needs,but the journey itself leads him somewhere worthwhile anyway."For me personally,I think it's about his arc,"Ryan says.That arc now has new layers.The Resynced remake adds fresh scenes–not filler,Ryan insists,but material that adds genuine depth to both the character and the story.Coming back,he admits,was strange.Wonderful.Nostalgic.And terrifying."You're like,'Oh shit,where is he?How do I realign to him?'"But then Edward was just there,waiting.Ryan's voice has dropped slightly over the years.He's trained for this.Slipping back in felt like greeting an old friend.
There's a beautiful,almost accidental parallel that Ryan only fully appreciated recently.He left Swansea at 19 to attend the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,chasing an acting career.Edward Kenway,as written after that fateful Montreal conversation,also left Swansea for Bristol.A fictional pirate and the actor who plays him,sharing the same origin story."It's a really cool parallel,"Ryan says quietly,like he's still processing the luck of it.Nobody knows where Swansea is,he jokes.That anonymity,that small-town desperation,became the character's unspoken fuel.And now,after all these years,Ryan finally got to tell someone that his Constantine kicks ass.The interview was a joy.But watching him talk about Edward–about the weight of returning to a role that means something to people–that was the real treasure.Not gold.Just a Welsh actor who accidentally found his perfect pirate.
