Star Wars Outlaws' Humberly González talks Kay Vess and auditioning for Star Wars

Star Wars Outlaws is right around the corner, coming out on August 30. Lead actor Humberly González and Creative Director Julian Gerighty sat down with IGN at gamescom 2024 to discuss the characters and the audition process for a Star Wars video game.

Digging into who Kay Vess is as a Star Wars character, González explained, "Honestly, right from the get go from the first audition even though they made us sign a million NDA's, and I had no idea it was Star Wars, there was an attitude that I got from her that she uses her charm and her swagger to get where she wants to go and just take opportunities from whoever is available. I always made sure that she was confident enough, fake it 'til you make it, even if she is very flawed."

"I think it naturally came to me. I always love playing characters that are a little bit sassy and witty, kind of quick to clap back. I just kind of used that natural attitude that came to me, and obviously, the character depends on once we knew it was a scoundrel story, that I was in Star Wars. The tone just adds to the relevance of the world."

- Humberly González

How does the audition process for something as big as Star Wars come about? González revealed a peek behind the scenes, explaining, "It was like five months before the initial audition. At first I thought it was some cowboy western. Maybe there were like robots involved or something. But I felt like the characters were very grand. There was this air about it but not once did I ever think it was Star Wars. [The creators] probably thought that they were being so obvious."

Julian Gerighty, the Creative Director, added additional input on the audition process, saying, "This is part of the process with Lucasfilm Games. We have to mask those initial scripts. We had some that were themed as Westerns, and some that were themed as pirate adventures. We sent those out, and the whole thing was completely masked. So, we had to write different scripts just to get the casting off the ground."

When asked how the actors responded finding out they were in a galaxy far, far away, Gerighty revealed, "We actually recorded the reactions of the performers who were told that it was going to be Star Wars. The explosion of joy. The love of Star Wars is pretty universal. There is a deep connection to that world, that universe, that galaxy in general."

Star Wars Outlaws is out on August 30 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.