Supermassive Games has a "type." If you've played Until Dawn or The Quarry, you know exactly what I mean. They love that uncanny valley crossover where Hollywood actors get digitised into a nightmare. But with The Casting of Frank Stone, things felt a bit different. This wasn't just another teen slasher; it was a heavy-lifting expansion of the Dead by Daylight universe.
Getting the cast of Frank Stone right was basically the only way this game was going to work.
Think about it. You’re asking players to care about a group of amateur filmmakers in the 1980s while simultaneously jumping through different timelines. If the acting is wooden, the whole "interactive movie" gimmick falls apart faster than a cheap tripod. Honestly, the choice to lean into a mix of seasoned voice talent and screen actors who actually know how to handle a mo-cap suit was a smart move by Behaviour Interactive and Supermassive.
The story is weirdly meta. You have these kids—Linda, Bonnie, Jaime, and Chris—trying to film Murder Mill at the Cedar Hills steel mill. It’s a classic "movie within a movie" setup. But the real meat of the game comes from how the actors handle the diverging paths. Because, as we all know, one wrong dialogue choice and your favorite character is getting their jaw ripped off by a supernatural entity.
Meet the Faces of Cedar Hills
Let's talk about the 1980s crew because they carry the emotional weight of the nostalgia trip.
Chris, the ambitious director of the group, is played by Hannah Wood. She brings this frantic, obsessive energy to the role that makes you both annoyed by her and desperate to keep her alive. She's the engine of the plot. Without Chris’s ego, they never would have stepped foot in that mill. It’s a performance that reminds me of those early Spielberg protagonists, just with more impending doom.
Then you’ve got Jaime, played by Miles Webb. Jaime is the character that most players end up relating to because he’s often the one saying, "Hey, maybe we shouldn't be here?" Webb plays him with a vulnerability that makes the stakes feel real. When Jaime is terrified, you’re terrified. It isn't just screaming for the sake of a jump scare; there’s a genuine tremor in the voice work there.
And of course, we have to mention Linda. In the 80s, she’s played by Lucy Evenden, and in the modern day, Jane Perry takes over. This is where the cast of Frank Stone gets really interesting.
Jane Perry is a titan in the gaming world. You’ve heard her as Diana Burnwood in Hitman or Selene in Returnal. Bringing her in to play the older, more cynical version of Linda Castle gave the game instant credibility. She has this "seen-it-all" rasp that perfectly contrasts with Evenden’s younger, more hopeful portrayal. It’s a rare moment in gaming where a character’s aging feels narratively earned because the two actresses sync their mannerisms so well.
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The Man, The Myth, The Killer: Who is Frank Stone?
The big question everyone had before launch: who is playing the titular monster?
Frank Stone himself is voiced and performed by Tobias Weatherburn.
Playing a slasher villain is a thankless job in some ways because you're often behind a mask or covered in gore. But Weatherburn had to play Frank as a man before he became the legend. You see him in the prologue—the 1960s segment—as this hulking, terrifying presence in the mill.
The physical acting here is what sells it. Weatherburn gives Frank a heavy, deliberate gait. He doesn't just walk; he looms. It’s a different kind of horror than the "teleporting" killers we see in the main Dead by Daylight game. He feels physical. He feels like a man who worked in a steel mill and lost his mind.
The 2024 Timeline: A Different Kind of Horror
While the 80s stuff is all about neon and bravado, the modern-day segments at Gerant Manor feel more like a psychological thriller. This is where the rest of the cast of Frank Stone really gets to flex.
- Madi, played by Rebecca LaChance, is our primary lens into the mystery of the "present."
- Sam Green, the cop from the 60s, returns as an old man played by Forbes Masson.
- Stan, the suspicious collector, is voiced by Toby Stephens.
Wait, Toby Stephens? Yes, the same Toby Stephens from Black Sails and Die Another Day.
Having Stephens in the cast is a massive "get." He plays Stan with this oily, untrustworthy charm that makes you want to check your pockets every time he leaves the room. He’s the catalyst for the modern-day gathering, and his performance keeps the tension high even when there isn't a killer chasing you through the corridors.
Masson’s Sam Green is the connective tissue. Seeing him go from the young, determined officer in 1966 (where he’s played by Mitchell Mullen) to this broken, weary old man in the present is heart-wrenching. It adds a layer of tragedy to the lore that the main DbD game usually lacks. You see the long-term trauma of surviving a horror movie.
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Why the Voice Acting Matters for Dead by Daylight Lore
For years, Dead by Daylight characters were basically silent avatars. They grunted, they screamed, and they bled. That was it.
The cast of Frank Stone changed the game because they finally gave the Entity's realm a voice. When you hear the characters discuss the "black fog" or the "imperceptible shift in reality," it stops being a game mechanic and starts being a lived experience.
The chemistry between the 1980s kids—specifically the banter between Jaime and Chris—makes the "branching paths" feel more significant. You don't want to lose Jaime because his relationship with Bonnie (played by Lydia Baksh) feels authentic.
Supermassive Games uses a specific "Relationship" mechanic. If you're mean to your friends, they might not help you later. This only works if the actors can sell the friction. Honestly, the dialogue in Frank Stone is some of the snappiest we've seen from this studio. It’s less "I am a teenager in a horror movie" and more "I am a kid trying to make art while my life falls apart."
The Technical Side of the Performance
You can’t talk about the cast without talking about the motion capture.
The facial animations in this game are a huge step up from The Dark Pictures Anthology. You can see the micro-expressions. When Linda realizes something is wrong in the mill, you see it in the tightening of her eyes before she even says a word.
This is where the actors' experience comes in. Mo-cap is weird. You're in a spandex suit with ping-pong balls all over you, standing in a grey room, pretending a tennis ball on a stick is a terrifying killer. It requires a level of "theatre of the mind" that not every screen actor can handle. The cast of Frank Stone clearly "got" it.
The performance capture was handled with a level of nuance that allows for quiet moments. There's a scene where the kids are just sitting around a campfire, and the performances there are just as important as the ones in the chase scenes. It builds the "E-E-A-T" (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) of the narrative. If we don't trust the characters' reactions, we don't trust the story.
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What People Get Wrong About the Cast
A lot of people think that because it's a "Dead by Daylight" game, the actors are just playing archetypes. You know—the Jock, the Nerd, the Final Girl.
But if you actually pay attention to the performances, they subvert those tropes. Chris isn't just a bossy director; she’s someone desperately trying to escape her small-town fate through her art. Frank Stone isn't just a silent killer; his background (revealed through logs and performance cues) shows a man who was a victim of his environment before he became a monster.
The cast of Frank Stone brings a groundedness to a world that is inherently absurd. I mean, we're talking about a world where a giant spider-god from another dimension eats people. That’s a hard sell. But when Jane Perry delivers a line about the "thinness of reality," you believe her.
Actionable Insights for Players
If you’re diving into the game specifically because of the cast or the story, here are a few things you should actually do to get the most out of their performances:
- Pay attention to the background dialogue. A lot of the best character work happens when you’re just walking around. Don't rush to the next objective. Listen to the bickering.
- Switch up your choices in a second playthrough. The actors recorded thousands of lines that many people will never hear. Some of the best emotional beats are hidden behind "bad" decisions.
- Watch the credits. Seriously. Look at the names of the stunt performers and the facial capture team. The actors provide the soul, but the technical team ensures that soul isn't lost in translation to the screen.
- Check out the actors' other work. If you liked Jane Perry here, play Returnal. If you liked Toby Stephens, watch Black Sails. It gives you a deeper appreciation for their range.
The cast of Frank Stone managed to do something difficult: they took a decade-old franchise about multiplayer loops and turned it into a character-driven drama. Whether you're a hardcore DbD fan or just someone who likes a good interactive horror flick, the performances are the reason to stay.
Next time you’re hiding in a locker or frantically repairing a camera, take a second to appreciate the breathy, panicked vocal work. It’s what makes the horror move from the screen into your head.
To truly appreciate the nuances of the performances, your next step should be to head into the Cutting Room Floor feature after your first completion. This allows you to jump back into specific scenes and choose different dialogue options, letting you see the full range of the actors' work without replaying the entire game from scratch. It's the best way to see how the cast handled the "what if" scenarios that define the horror genre.