“I remember being in a really strange time in my life, oddly enough, and a big transition where I felt really uncertain of myself and my place in the world, and this audition came around that was somehow celebrating all the things about myself that I thought were problematic.”
I am sitting down with Hannah Telle and Rhianna DeVries, who play Max and Chloe in Life is Strange: Reunion, the next entry in Square Enix’s Life is Strange games. Over a decade ago, we were first introduced to the series’ two young heroines, who were each navigating life’s twists and turns as best they could. But, on top of the day to day of classes and social dynamics, there was also the element of the supernatural, with Max – an anxious and reserved student – able to rewind time. Over the course of several chapters we got to know more about Max and Chloe, and inevitably, fall in love with them and their intricacies.
For Telle, getting the part of Max was “the greatest lifeline that could have ever come” to her during a time of self discovery. “I was able to work away from the camera, and over the course of about a year, [became] the lead of a video game. And it was such a huge growth journey for me and for the characters,” she says. “We grew alongside each other, it was really meaningful and had a profound impact on my life.”
Telle reflects on her own shyness and self doubt, which she admits was causing “a lot of issues” for her acting career. But then Max came along, and a perfect union of craft and character was realised. “This role allowed me to be my soft-spoken, anxious self, and it was amazing for me,” Telle says, with a fondness so warm it radiates through the screen between us. “[Max] becomes a lot more confident and steps into her power as a superhero as the original game progresses – like, by the fifth episode, she’s a lot more self assured than she was at the start of the first. And so that was really, that was really a unique opportunity for me to grow with her, and become a stronger person myself.”
And a driving part of Max’s development in Life is Strange is Chloe. Their relationship is the backbone of the first game, their stories intrinsically linked through trauma-bonding and the peculiar events that take place in Arcadia Bay. Chloe was initially played by Ashly Burch, before Rhianna DeVries took over the role from Before the Storm onwards. “It was such a wild ride,” DeVries smiles. “I was 18 when I responded to a Facebook post. It just said: ‘If you sound like and move like a teenage girl and you want to be in a video game, send us your headshot and resume.’ And I went, ‘that sounds crazy. I’m doing that’.”
Originally, DeVries was only hired for Chloe’s motion capture in Before the Storm. “I still felt like the coolest kid in school,” they laugh. However, when the studio put out a call for voice auditions, DeVries jumped at the chance. “I remember we were on set doing the mocap when the performance director for Before the Storm turned to me, and he was like, ‘I don’t want you to get so excited because it would affect the markers… so, be cool. Be cool. But you got it,” DeVries recounts, before joking they were so ecstatic they “almost peed”.
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“It felt like a dream. It felt absolutely incredible. Chloe spoke to me in such a way that I just didn’t find in the other characters I was playing at the time,” DeVries says, adding that – just like Telle – their Life is Strange character encouraged them to be more confident in the real world.
“It made me realise that there are ways to navigate situations, conversations and connections… you can just be tenacious,” they say. “You can just say what you mean… It is okay, as long as you stick by your values, and you’re doing what you really believe in.”
It’s clear Max and Chloe are more than just characters to Telle and DeVries. They feel entwined with each other, with an almost symbiotic relationship growing with each new game. But it is not just Telle and DeVries that hold these characters in such high regard. Far from it. Ever since Max and Chloe were first introduced back in 2015, many of us have found a deep connection with the girls and their stories.
“I really don’t think I understood just how much this game meant to people,” says DeVries. “I only knew how much it meant to me. And so seeing the way that Before the Storm was received, and even now talking to people about the way that these games have impacted the way that they see themselves, and the way that they navigate their sexuality or their gender identity, it’s… such an honour to be a part of something like this.”
“Rhianna said it so well,” Telle echoes. “The bond between these two characters represents so many different things for so many different people: the power of friendship, emotional consequences, that [the story] happened at a really formative time in their lives and in the players’ lives… There’s an intimacy and love there that’s really unique and powerful.
“Similar to Rhianna, I only can begin to understand what it means to other people, because there’s such a magical cinematic quality to watching that story unfold in front of you for the first time, without any knowledge of where it’s going to go. It’s really special and singular. Being able to play Max and watch this game go from an indie (that I’m not sure a lot of people thought would happen from this game), to a cultural phenomenon… That has just been the biggest ride of my life, and the biggest honour of my career. It’s extremely touching and profound, and it’s not something I take lightly. It’s been the biggest blessing.”
But while there is evidently so much love and emotion here, there is also some anxiety among the Life is Strange community. After all, many saw the end of the first Life is Strange as the end of Max and Chloe’s story. And for some players of the original, Chloe died. Even in a world where characters can shapeshift and rewind time, bringing someone back from the dead all these years later has left an uncomfortable taste in players’ mouths. So what do Telle and DeVries feel about their characters reuniting?
“Well, I feel like these characters hold such a special place in so many people’s hearts, including mine and everyone who made the game,” Telle replies, “so it’s essential to me that their coming back together is approached with care and love and caution, and complete and full awareness of the myriad complexities of what can happen when there’s been time apart and you’ve both grown and experienced life on your own… but yet your shared history is so rich and so enormously impactful on who you’ve become, and who you’re still becoming.”
Telle adds that she “didn’t feel like [the game] was about nostalgia”, but rather it “felt like a story that I’ve been wanting to continue forever”, even if at first she didn’t think it would be possible. “That relationship is sacred to me, and I think that we focused on being as intimate and careful and loving and deep as we could in exploring the many complexities of them coming back together,” she says.
“There was an article you wrote, and in it was a quote about true friendship withstanding time and distance and silence. That really resonates with this story, because [Max and Chloe] are people who have everything shared between them and have been infinitely shaped by each other, but they have so much left unsaid. It was just fascinating to see them as more mature adults interacting with each other again, figuring out how they fit in each other’s lives now, and going forward.”
DeVries similarly assures that Max and Chloe’s return is being treated with the utmost care and respect by everyone involved in Reunion. “[Developer Deck Nine] is devoted to honouring everything that this story means to so many people. It’s a massive privilege to be a part of.”
I see my chance, and ask DeVries what it was like to take over the role from Burch. As with any acting job, DeVries tells me they – of course – did their research, which meant taking “every piece of data that you possibly can” and “[infusing] it into your performance in order to not only honour the character more fully, but also just to be as honest and present and authentic in the character as you possibly can be”. They also credit the writers and the entire team for making their arrival into the Life is Strange world a welcoming one. And as for any naysayers out there who have expressed disappointment that DeVries is now Chloe… well, that is all part of engaging with art.
“I have found folks to be very, very supportive and kind, and also folks are really opinionated about it, and I think that’s a great thing to have an opinion about a piece of art,” they explain. “It means that you’re engaging with it. It means that you care enough to connect with it. And it’s good that folks have these opinions. I think it’s a wonderful, incredible thing that some folks connect with [Burch’s] performance, and some folks connect more with my performance, because it just means that there’s an abundance of touch points where people can find a way in.
“They can find a way into the story and make it mean more to them, and I’m just grateful to have been a part of it… It’s good when people care.”
But while Max and Chloe are, against all the odds, back together for Life is Strange: Reunion, this really will be their final chapter. Square Enix and Deck Nine have already dubbed it the “epic conclusion” of the girls’ story, which means very soon we will be saying goodbye to Max and Chloe. Needless to say, it is an emotional time for both Telle and DeVries.
“Max has been a part of my life for a really long time, and the connection that fans have with her is something that I’ve always been really, really grateful for as an actor and a person. It makes me feel purposeful, and so it’s going to be really hard to let this be my last time playing her,” Telle says with tears swimming in her eyes. “I’m just grateful for the whole experience, and it was truly a privilege to get to do this at all in the first place, and then again, and then again. I still can’t believe it, and yeah, I feel very blessed.”
By now, DeVries is also crying. “Not to sound super corny, but in a way I don’t think I’m ever really gonna say goodbye to her,” they say of Chloe, wiping their eyes, before we end our call.
“If I am a tree, I have grown around her in a way that I don’t think I’m ever going to say goodbye to her. I’m just so grateful to have been able to do this so many times, and to have gotten to do it with this incredible team of people, and with Hannah. It’s been an amazing ride. And I’m just so glad it happened, and I refuse to let it end in my internal world.
“In my internal world, Chloe lives on.”
