Honkai: Star Rail (HSR), one of the many hit gacha titles from miHoYo (HoYoverse), has officially rolled out its 3.3 update, continuing the Amphoreus arc with the new questline, “The Fall at Dawn’s Rise.”
Beyond new content, the update makes a significant change in the English voice cast. The main characters, Caelus and Stelle, have received new voice actors after months of silence, following the original actors’ participation in the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. HoYoverse has now recast both roles with talent committed to their work, ensuring continuity for players moving forward.
This move signals HoYoverse’s intent to maintain a stable and reliable experience for its audience, rather than cater to performative activism as a shield for professional unreliability.
Rachel Chau and Caleb Yen, the former English voices of Stelle and Caelus respectively, have been effectively dropped. Their refusal to reprise their roles and record for months on end has left the player’s avatar mute throughout major story arcs, affecting the experience for English dub users. HoYoverse initially omitted mention of the replacements in their update notes, but later amended the patch log to reflect the casting change.
After several updates where the protagonist remained silent, the decision to recast is a welcome one for players who simply want an uninterrupted story experience.
To put things in context: this situation isn’t about AI ethics or protecting voice actors. Despite SAG-AFTRA’s public messaging, the union has increasingly behaved less like an advocate for performers and more like a gatekeeper exerting control.
SAG-AFTRA’s so-called “interim agreement” demands that foreign developers, including China-based companies like miHoYo, adhere to terms they legally cannot accept. Chinese law prohibits companies from signing such agreements unless it’s with a domestic union. SAG-AFTRA is fully aware of this. The goal isn’t protection, it’s control.
Even though miHoYo has taken proactive steps to protect voice actors from AI misuse such as supporting legislation in China against AI voice cloning, SAG-AFTRA-affiliated actors still refuse to return to work. Instead, they continue to pressure studios into compliance while vilifying any professional who dares to take a paid job in their stead.
Their weapon of choice? Calling them “scabs.” But make no mistake: this isn’t just any normal strike, it’s a wildcat strike, which, under U.S. law, is illegal. HoYoverse’s decision to recast roles clearly reflects a commitment to keeping its development timelines on track rather than bowing to the unrealistic demands of entitled and uncooperative English dub actors, a stance similarly evident in recent events surrounding Zenless Zone Zero.
The double standards are hard to ignore. SAG-AFTRA recently drew attention for its May 19, 2025, statement condemning Fortnite’s use of an AI-generated James Earl Jones voice as Darth Vader. Despite the fact that Jones’ estate gave full consent and licensed his likeness, the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint, arguing the company failed to negotiate “appropriate terms” which, in practice, simply means the union didn’t get a cut.
This move highlights SAG-AFTRA’s hypocrisy, especially considering it previously struck a deal in January 2024 that allowed the use of AI-generated voices in video games. That agreement, made without consulting many of its members, sparked backlash within the voice acting community. The union’s outrage over the Fortnite situation appears less about ethical concerns and more about not receiving financial compensation.
At its core, this issue seems driven by entitlement rather than principles. That same entitlement has now led to Honkai: Star Rail recasting key English voice actors, rightfully so. Caleb Yen’s removal from the game may signal broader changes; he also voices Gaming in Genshin Impact.
With his exit from Star Rail, a recast in Genshin seems likely if Gaming were to return in future updates.
Unfortunately, not all changes in Honkai: Star Rail’s 3.3 update has been positive. While the update finally restored voiced protagonists, it also continued a troubling trend of altering dialogue to pander to niche fandoms. In particular, the “Fall at Dawn’s Rise” questline inserts romantic subtext between the male characters Phainon and Mydeimos, an embellishment not present in the original script and widely interpreted as gratuitous “yaoi bait.”
Honkai and Genshin Impact have long appealed to a broad audience of both men and women, in part due to their inclusion of attractive male characters and the option to choose between male and female protagonists. However, this wide appeal has also contributed to the growth of a toxic faction within the fandom.
Fujoshi fans (women who enjoy imagining romantic pairings between male characters) and yuri shippers (those who focus on female/female relationships) have often been criticized for pushing their preferences onto the wider community. Notably, the more toxic segments of these groups tend to be predominantly female.
Those who disagree with their “canon” interpretations are often met with harassment, including threats.
The shift in tone within the English localization for Honkai Star Rail’s 3.3 update has been linked to fujoshi influence among the localization staff. With little resistance from the broader community, much of which has disengaged due to repeated censorship and marginalization, this subgroup has been able to dominate the narrative.
As a result, their preferred interpretations have been officially embedded into the English version, effectively gatekeeping the experience for others.
This is especially evident in the “Golden Thread, Relay the Savior’s Fate” quest, where a scene shows Phainon saying goodbye to several characters, including Mydeimos.
In the original Chinese, the line is translated as “It’s settled, Mydeimos” (約好了, 邁德漠斯), while the Japanese version uses “It’s a promise, Medeimos” (約束だ、メデイモス). However, the English localization takes a different route, rendering it as “It’s a date, Mydeimos” a phrasing that implies romantic undertones and suggests an intentional push for chemistry between the two male characters.
This change introduces romantic subtext that wasn’t present in the original script, prompting criticism that the English localization team is deliberately pandering to the game’s fujoshi fanbase, female fans who imagine romantic relationships between male characters.
Given that Honkai: Star Rail originates from China, where homosexuality is heavily censored, LGBT content is effectively banned from television, and effeminate male representation is discouraged, it’s implausible that such implications were intended by the developers. The CCP has even gone so far as to brand LGBTQ activism as a foreign influence.
That makes this clearly a problem with the English version in update 3.3, not the game as originally written.
A particularly toxic slice of the fanbase, Western fujoshis and yuri shippers have seized on these titles and transformed every friendship into a romance, and every character into an outlet for self-insert fantasies. Artists who portray heterosexual pairings or ignore same-sex shipping are doxxed, harassed, and threatened. With these fans now embedded in localization roles, even neutral character interactions are being reimagined as flirty exchanges to serve personal headcanons.
They’ve essentially taken over the English-speaking side of the fandom. The result? A localized version of the game that caters to their shipping fantasies while sidelining anyone who disagrees. Meanwhile, players who simply want faithful translations and compelling narratives are being pushed out or have walked away entirely.
This isn’t a one-off issue, either. It’s part of a growing trend in HoYoverse titles where English translations stray from the original Chinese and Japanese scripts, frequently adding romantic or sentimental overtones particularly in same-sex interactions that were never present in the source material.
For example, during the 2022 Lantern Rite event in Genshin Impact, Beidou teasingly comments on Ningguang’s outfit in the original Chinese version with: “妳這是穿的什麼啊, 很新潮嘛” (“What are you wearing? Pretty trendy, huh”).
The English localization renders this as “Hey, check you out… Looking pretty fancy.” Ningguang’s reply in Chinese, “能令見多識廣的北斗船長讚嘆. 這身衣裳 也算有面子了” (“To earn praise from the well-traveled Captain Beidou, this outfit must really hold its own”), becomes in English: “Only a true treasure catches the eye of Captain Beidou,” followed by “Seems I’ve struck gold.”
The English version’s additions, phrases like “check you out” and calling the other a “treasure” introduce a flirtatious tone absent in both the Chinese and Japanese scripts.
Fans often see this as part of a pattern, where localizers cater to yuri (female/female) and fujoshi (male/male) shipping communities. In Honkai: Star Rail, the exchange between Phainon and Mydeimos follows a similar trend, with the English version framing their interaction romantically in line with a vocal faction of the fandom.
Overall, Honkai: Star Rail’s 3.3 update underscores the complex challenges HoYoverse is navigating. The replacement of English voice actors who refused to work demonstrates the company’s commitment to business continuity rather than yielding to unreasonable and illegal demands. Meanwhile, the union’s contradictory stance on AI reveals an agenda focused on control, treating the English voice acting industry as an exclusive club, not only blocking the use of AI-generated voices but also insisting that companies hire solely from SAG-AFTRA members.
At the same time, continual localization controversies across HSR, Honkai Impact 3rd, and Genshin Impact demonstrate how fan-driven agendas can reshape narratives, alienating segments of the audience. As HoYoverse navigates these labor, cultural, and fandom tensions, the gap between its global fans and creative choices remains a heated issue.
