Borderlands 3 brings back Ashly Burch in her first big role

Ashly Burch will return to one of her first voice acting roles — Borderlands’ Tiny Tina — with Borderlands 3 later this year. Gearbox Software honcho Randy Pitchford confirmed the detail on Twitter.

Burch was known for the web comedy series Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’ before landing the Tiny Tina role in 2012’s Borderlands 2. Her brother, Anthony Burch, was hired by Gearbox as a writer for that game, and apparently created the character with his sister in mind. She still had to audition for the part, and did, and got the job.

Tiny Tina is a manic, chatty, 13-year-old demolitions expert who popped up as an NPC in Borderlands 2 and was enough of a fan favorite to star in the game’s fourth DLC extension, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep.

Following Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! Burch landed roles in Team Fortress 2 (as Miss Pauling), Life Is Strange (as Chloe Price) and as the hero of Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy, for which she was nominated at the 2017 Game Awards.

Burch may be coming back to her part, but Troy Baker is not, even though his character, Rhys, will appear in Borderlands 3. Rhys originated in Telltale Games’ Tales from the Borderlands, as a player-character protagonist, and has not otherwise appeared in any main Borderlands games, though. Baker expressed disapproval with casting someone else in the role, to which Pitchford said he’d been told Baker turned down the part.

Borderlands 3, announced at PAX East three weeks ago, will launch Sept. 13 2019 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and for Windows PC exclusively on the Epic Games Store for the first six months.