Solid Snake Actor David Hayter Sparks Metal Gear Speculation by Teasing Return to Role

David Hayter, the veteran voice behind Metal Gear’s Solid Snake, has teased a return to the iconic role he last played over a decade ago.

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima controversially replaced Hayter as Snake with 24 star Kiefer Sutherland for 2015’s Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Hayter last played Snake in 2010’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

But could a return be on the cards? That certainly seems likely following a cryptic tweet from Hayter himself. “I was in the booth today,” he said. “Playing a role I’ve not played, since…” Hayter followed that tweet up with a gif of Snake in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

pic.twitter.com/s15E4YlW2u— David Hayter (@DavidBHayter) October 4, 2024

At first glance it looks like Hayter is in the booth to record Snake voice lines for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the hotly anticipated remake of Metal Gear Solid 3. However, Konami has confirmed Delta uses the same dialogue audio as the original Snake Eater and thus all cinematics are frame-for-frame and line-for-line identical.

So, what’s Hayter teasing? Fans have all sorts of theories. It could be promotional work for Metal Gear Solid Delta, or extra content set to come with the game. Alternatively, it could be voice work for an upcoming Sonic fan film called Sonic Villains, which Hayter is meant to be voicing Solid Snake for as part of an unofficial cameo.

More exciting is the suggestion that Hayter is reprising his role as Snake for an unannounced Metal Gear Solid game. If that’s true, what could it be?

In June last year, fans spotted that inspecting the Metal Gear Solid timeline page on the official Metal Gear Solid website revealed placeholder buttons for Metal Gear Solid 4, Metal Gear Solid 5, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker — three games IGN understands will indeed form a part of the unannounced Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. Perhaps Hayter is recording new voice work for one or all of these games. Or maybe Konami has a brand new Metal Gear game up its sleeve and Hayter has parachuted in to reprise the role.

It’s a mystery for now, but we can perhaps rule out a remake of the first Metal Gear Solid game. Konami recently said remaking the groundbreaking original would be much more complicated than its incoming Metal Gear solid 3 remake because it would require the creation of many brand new elements.

"Metal Gear Solid Delta seems more like a very shiny HD remaster than the elegant remake it could have been," IGN said in our Metal Gear Solid Delta preview. "It’s an admittedly beautiful nostalgia trip, but almost faithful to a fault."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.