David Hayter will miss playing Snake, would like to 'do this role forever'

David Hayter, the longtime Metal Gear voice actor, wrote a post on Twitlonger today explaining how he learned that he won't be reprising his role in Metal Gear Solid 5, the upcoming installments in Hideo Kojima's tactical stealth action series.

Hayter has portrayed various incarnations of Snake in the nearly 15 years since 1998's Metal Gear Solid release. When he returned home from Toronto for the holidays last year, he learned that the recording sessions for Metal Gear Solid 5 were "being put together." After he made contact "with someone involved with the production," he was told that they "wouldn't be needing" him.

"If it were my choice, I would do this role forever," Hayter wrote. "To hear anyone else's voice coming from Snake's battered throat, makes me a little ill, to be honest.

"But the truth is — it's not my choice. Any and all casting decisions are the sole purview of Hideo Kojima, and Konami itself. And that's fair."

Before today's recap, Hayter implied that he hadn't been asked to return, and Geoff Keighley tweeted earlier this month that Kojima confirmed the news in an interview.

In response to a tweet saying that it was "odd that you're posting this on April Fools," Hayter included a #NoAprilFools hashtag.

For more on Metal Gear Solid 5 — a two-part game split between a prologue called Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain — be sure to check out our coverage from GDC last week, which includes a new trailer.