Reuben Langdon Won’t Be Voicing Ken In Street Fighter VI

Reuben Langdon, the voice for iconic characters like Dante from the Devil May Cry series and Ken Masters from the Street Fighter games, has recently confirmed on Twitter that he won’t be reprising his role as the iconic blonde-haired martial artist in the upcoming Street Fighter VI.

I am sad to no longer be the voice of Ken because he is a character dear to my heart. There are many lessons here in this situation. I tried my best to be epithetic to people on all sides but I must be myself no matter what and continue on my own journey.”

Major Takeaways:

• Reuben Langdon won’t be reprising his role as Ken in Street Fighter VI.
• Ken will be voiced by David Matranga in Street Fighter VI.

While not as iconic as series poster boy Ryu, Ken has remained a crucial part of the Street Fighter series ever since its inception and has been voiced by Reuben Langdon since Street Fighter IV back in 2008.

While to many his most iconic role still remains as the half-demon/half-human Dante from the Devil May Cry series, many fighting game fans have expressed sadness at Reuben’s departure from the series. 

Instead, David Matranga will be the voice of Ken in Street Fighter VI. David Matranga has primarily worked as a voice actor in the anime industry and has been the voice of characters like Shoto Todoroki from My Hero Academia and Bertholdt Hoover in Attack on Titan.

Matranga also voiced Captain Square in the Square Enix JRPG, “Live a Live”. Reuben Langdon referred to the new actor replacing and said:

Hopefully, the next actor will take the character to the next level and the audience will continue to love the Legend that has become Ken Masters. Shoryuken!”

This is not the only voice actor that has been replaced for Street Fighter VI. Voice actress Laura Bailey, who has been the voice of Chun-Li for almost everything related to the Street Fighter universe since SF IV has also been replaced by Jennie Kwan for Street Fighter VI. 

Jennie Kwan has worked as a voice actor in numerous games such as Live a Live, Lost Judgment, and Rune Factory. Her most recognizable role however is as Suki in the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. She has also voiced characters in numerous anime such as Detective Conan and Demon Slayer. 

CAPCOM has replaced a lot of classic voice actors over the years, namely in the Resident Evil franchise. Many of the newer entries in the RE series have replaced most of the previous cast from the old games in favor of a new set of voices. 2021’s Resident Evil Village replaced the voice of Roger Craig Smith with Jeff Schine for series’ fan favorite, Chris Redfield.

This has continued to the remakes as well, with the Resident Evil 2 remake replacing the voices of Paul Haddad and Alyson Court with Nick Apostolides and Stephanie Panisello respectively for Leon and Claire respectively. This is technically not a bad thing as Capcom would prefer a fresh set of voices for a different rendition of these characters.

CAPCOM’s recasting decisions for their recent games have given rise to some negative sentiments over the years from classic fans, especially those who have been attached to these characters and their voices for years. At least we Devil May Cry fans are safe…right? 

Street Fighter VI comes out next year for PS4/5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC.