![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/60247ecd\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_header.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/6518e8d3\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nVoice actress Melissa Hutchison recording dialogue in the VO booth.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n
The Story Of A Girl<\/h2>\n
In The Walking Dead\u2019s inaugural season, players took on the role of Lee, an ex-con who crosses paths with an orphaned girl named Clementine in the early days of the zombie apocalypse. Lee acted as a father figure to Clem throughout the season, which made its finale as emotional as it was shocking: Lee, bitten by a walker, asks Clementine to decide whether or not to kill him before he turns into a zombie himself. The result is the same whatever players decide to do. Lee dies, and in a twist, Clementine \u2013 and Melissa Hutchison \u2013 becomes the series\u2019 lead.<\/p>\n
Hutchison never knew this was the plan, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe creatives didn\u2019t even have [Clementine being the series protagonist] in mind,\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cI don\u2019t even know if they intended to do a second season.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until the reviews and accolades started rolling in that Hutchison realized she\u2019d lent her voice to a hit. Critics hailed the series as a revitalization of the adventure-game genre, and at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, not only did the first season win Game of the Year, but Hutchison also took home the trophy for Best Performance by a Human Female.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it all started to make sense\u2026 I had no idea that we would be sitting here at this moment, so many years later, wrapping it all up.\u201d<\/p>\n In The Walking Dead’s debut season, players controlled Lee, acting as a fatherly figure to Clementine while the pair searched for her missing parents.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n \u201cAs for Clementine being the playable character, I did not know until about a month before going in to record season two,\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cSeason three was a little bit of the same situation. I had no idea what they were going to do with it. I wasn\u2019t even sure if there was going to be a season three.\u201d<\/p>\n The series didn\u2019t have a definitive path from the beginning, according to Hutchison. The creatives at Telltale Games conceived each season ad hoc, so while Clementine ended up being the series\u2019 emotional through line, Hutchison says she went into each episode not knowing if her character would come out alive.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I found out for sure if she was going to live or die until we started recording the final episode,\u201d says Hutchison. \u201cPersonally, I had a feeling that they weren\u2019t going to kill her, but I knew something horrible, at least, had to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Her hunch proved accurate. In The Walking Dead\u2019s final episode, Clementine takes a walker bite to the leg. It\u2019s a horrifying moment for longtime fans that\u2019s made more gut-punching by the fact that her foster kid, AJ, watches it happen.<\/p>\n Clem and AJ hole up in a rundown barn from a walker horde where she collapses from fatigue. The infection is killing her body. Suddenly, the game changes perspective, putting players in control of AJ for the first time, and the two engage in one of the most somber, tearful scenes in the entire series.<\/p>\n The Walking Dead is a game about choice and consequence, and players spend most of the final season making hard calls about how to raise AJ in a world ravaged by death and murder. In one of the final choices in the game, players decide whether they\u2019ll kill Clementine before she can turn into a walker or leave her in the barn to turn. The scene parallels Lee and Clementine\u2019s final exchange in season one. In a twist, AJ makes his own choice, regardless of what players tell him to do: he axes off her bitten leg, and with it, the infection. Clementine survives.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know the ultimate outcome of the final episode until literally going in to record it,\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to know. The director was kind of on board with that, too\u2026 He wanted the Barbara Walters moment, if you will, in the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Click here to watch embedded media<\/a><\/p>\n Hutchison says she is satisfied with Clementine\u2019s fate, despite the fact that The Walking Dead TV and comic series\u2019 are notorious for killing off nearly every main character, to the degree that some might call it a rite of passage.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really honoring the fans, ultimately, that they decided to keep her alive,\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cThe love is very strong in this fanbase. These are just my theories, but I think the writers felt like if they killed her, it was doing a disservice to the [fans] who have literally driven this game. If not for the strength and love of this fanbase, it wouldn\u2019t have been worth saving. I think the writers were honoring the fans in keeping her alive.\u201d<\/p>\n In late September 2018, Hutchison went to the studio to record dialogue for the final episode of The Walking Dead. Director Jack Fletcher wanted her to record Clem\u2019s \u201cdeath\u201d scene in the barn, and a later moment where Clem confesses doubt in her ability to make choices for AJ. They were incredibly emotional scenes for Hutchison.<\/p>\n What she didn\u2019t know was that while she recorded her dialogue, more than 200 employees received fateful news: Telltale Games was shutting down. They were laid off, effective immediately. Each developer would receive a paper paycheck with pay through the end of the day. They had 30 minutes to leave the building. 200 creatives\u2019 futures were now up in the air \u2013 and so was Clementine\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, holy s—, this is the worst goodbye to a character ever,\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cIt felt so incomplete, and it felt horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/evqg5X98WZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Walking Dead Game (@telltalegames) September 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This wasn\u2019t the end of Hutchison and Clem\u2019s journey, though. In October 2018, developer Skybound Games \u2013 founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman \u2013 announced it would take over The Walking Dead\u2019s development<\/a> and publishing, working with members of the original Telltale team<\/a> to wrap up Clementine\u2019s story. They called themselves the Still Not Bitten crew \u2013 a name that not only expressed Clem\u2019s resilience against the walker threat but the developers\u2019 commitment to finishing Telltale\u2019s crowning project. Hutchison returned alongside them, thankful that the scenes she\u2019d recorded the day of the layoffs needed little alteration.<\/p>\n \u201cAt least a couple months later, after Skybound had picked it up and we got back in the studio, it was kind of good [that we\u2019d finished those scenes], because I didn\u2019t have to relive a lot of the emotional stuff from the day the company shut down,\u201d Hutchison says.<\/p>\n Skybound retained Telltale\u2019s vision for the final two episodes, according to the actress, who only had to make minor changes to Clementine\u2019s dialogue after development switched hands. The major plot points stayed the same.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like Telltale wrote [Clementine] to die, and then Skybound said, \u2018She\u2019s going to live!\u2019\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cWhich is really cool, and that was the only way I was going to feel good about picking up and continuing.\u201d<\/p>\n Just as Clementine has evolved from a scared little girl trapped in a treehouse to one of gaming\u2019s most recognizable heroines, Hutchison\u2019s gone through her own transitions in the last eight years. Her work as Clementine opened doors for her that led her to land more narrative-heavy roles, such as Beauty in The Wolf Among Us and Isa in Minecraft: Story Mode. She\u2019s started working more in animation, too, with credits in shows such as Space Racers and Yo-kai Watch. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t ever want to say there will never be an experience like this again,\u201d Hutchison says, \u201c…because games are so cinematic now and there are many options [for an actress] for that kind of character growth. But you know, it\u2019s been such an amazing experience. The whole experience feels almost like an amazing dream\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s finished recording dialogue, but Hutchison doesn\u2019t feel like the experience is over just yet.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely feel, once it\u2019s settled, and I\u2019m done messaging people and showing my gratitude\u2026 I have a feeling I\u2019m definitely going to sink into an \u2018oh s—, I don\u2019t get to be Clementine anymore!\u2019 mindset,\u201d Hutchison says. \u201cShe would have been great as an 18-year-old! She would have been great as a 24-year-old. But she\u2019s alive. I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike some voice actors, Hutchison is a huge fan of the games she performs in.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Several times during our call, Hutchison emphasizes how grateful she feels to have had the opportunity to work on The Walking Dead. It\u2019s palpable when she recounts working with the \u201cbrilliant\u201d developers, or when she remembers the choices she made when she played through each episode as a fan, or when she talks about the great friendships she\u2019s made through Telltale.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel, just ultimately right now, so much gratitude. I feel full. With the completion of this season, with this game, that I am in a really solid place with Clementine right now and she will forever be this precious experience of my life like none other.\u201d<\/p>\n You can read our thoughts on The Walking Dead’s final season here<\/a>. Here’s a feature we ran back when the series debuted in 2012 on how Hutchison built Clementine’s voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seven years ago, veteran voice actress Melissa Hutchison landed a role as Clementine in Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead. She couldn’t have known at the time that the first season of the episodic adventure series would launch to great reviews or that her character, who wasn’t even playable in the first season, would go on to become the face of the series. Now, the final chapter is out<\/a> and Clementine’s story has reached its conclusion. We spoke with Hutchison about her wild and unpredictable journey as Clem, her emotional reaction to the game’s final episode, and the untimely closure of Telltale Games.<\/p>\n Full spoilers below for the entirety of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead series.<\/em><\/p>\n Voice actress Melissa Hutchison recording dialogue in the VO booth.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n In The Walking Dead’s inaugural season, players took on the role of Lee, an ex-con who crosses paths with an orphaned girl named Clementine in the early days of the zombie apocalypse. Lee acted as a father figure to Clem throughout the season, which made its finale as emotional as it was shocking: Lee, bitten by a walker, asks Clementine to decide whether or not to kill him before he turns into a zombie himself. The result is the same whatever players decide to do. Lee dies, and in a twist, Clementine – and Melissa Hutchison – becomes the series’ lead.<\/p>\n Hutchison never knew this was the plan, though.<\/p>\n “The creatives didn’t even have [Clementine being the series protagonist] in mind,” Hutchison says. “I don’t even know if they intended to do a second season.”<\/p>\n It wasn’t until the reviews and accolades started rolling in that Hutchison realized she’d lent her voice to a hit. Critics hailed the series as a revitalization of the adventure-game genre, and at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, not only did the first season win Game of the Year, but Hutchison also took home the trophy for Best Performance by a Human Female.<\/p>\n “Then it all started to make sense… I had no idea that we would be sitting here at this moment, so many years later, wrapping it all up.”<\/p>\n In The Walking Dead’s debut season, players controlled Lee, acting as a fatherly figure to Clementine while the pair searched for her missing parents.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n “As for Clementine being the playable character, I did not know until about a month before going in to record season two,” Hutchison says. “Season three was a little bit of the same situation. I had no idea what they were going to do with it. I wasn’t even sure if there was going to be a season three.”<\/p>\n The series didn’t have a definitive path from the beginning, according to Hutchison. The creatives at Telltale Games conceived each season ad hoc, so while Clementine ended up being the series’ emotional through line, Hutchison says she went into each episode not knowing if her character would come out alive.<\/p>\n “I don’t think I found out for sure if she was going to live or die until we started recording the final episode,” says Hutchison. “Personally, I had a feeling that they weren’t going to kill her, but I knew something horrible, at least, had to happen.”<\/p>\n Her hunch proved accurate. In The Walking Dead’s final episode, Clementine takes a walker bite to the leg. It’s a horrifying moment for longtime fans that’s made more gut-punching by the fact that her foster kid, AJ, watches it happen.<\/p>\n Clem and AJ hole up in a rundown barn from a walker horde where she collapses from fatigue. The infection is killing her body. Suddenly, the game changes perspective, putting players in control of AJ for the first time, and the two engage in one of the most somber, tearful scenes in the entire series.<\/p>\n The Walking Dead is a game about choice and consequence, and players spend most of the final season making hard calls about how to raise AJ in a world ravaged by death and murder. In one of the final choices in the game, players decide whether they’ll kill Clementine before she can turn into a walker or leave her in the barn to turn. The scene parallels Lee and Clementine’s final exchange in season one. In a twist, AJ makes his own choice, regardless of what players tell him to do: he axes off her bitten leg, and with it, the infection. Clementine survives.<\/p>\n “I didn’t know the ultimate outcome of the final episode until literally going in to record it,” Hutchison says. “I didn’t want to know. The director was kind of on board with that, too… He wanted the Barbara Walters moment, if you will, in the performance.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Click here to watch embedded media<\/a><\/p>\n Hutchison says she is satisfied with Clementine’s fate, despite the fact that The Walking Dead TV and comic series’ are notorious for killing off nearly every main character, to the degree that some might call it a rite of passage.<\/p>\n “I think it’s really honoring the fans, ultimately, that they decided to keep her alive,” Hutchison says. “The love is very strong in this fanbase. These are just my theories, but I think the writers felt like if they killed her, it was doing a disservice to the [fans] who have literally driven this game. If not for the strength and love of this fanbase, it wouldn’t have been worth saving. I think the writers were honoring the fans in keeping her alive.”<\/p>\n In late September 2018, Hutchison went to the studio to record dialogue for the final episode of The Walking Dead. Director Jack Fletcher wanted her to record Clem’s “death” scene in the barn, and a later moment where Clem confesses doubt in her ability to make choices for AJ. They were incredibly emotional scenes for Hutchison.<\/p>\n What she didn’t know was that while she recorded her dialogue, more than 200 employees received fateful news: Telltale Games was shutting down. They were laid off, effective immediately. Each developer would receive a paper paycheck with pay through the end of the day. They had 30 minutes to leave the building. 200 creatives’ futures were now up in the air – and so was Clementine’s.<\/p>\n “I was like, holy s—, this is the worst goodbye to a character ever,” Hutchison says. “It felt so incomplete, and it felt horrible.”<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/evqg5X98WZ<\/a><\/p>\n — The Walking Dead Game (@telltalegames) September 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This wasn’t the end of Hutchison and Clem’s journey, though. In October 2018, developer Skybound Games – founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman – announced it would take over The Walking Dead’s development<\/a> and publishing, working with members of the original Telltale team<\/a> to wrap up Clementine’s story. They called themselves the Still Not Bitten crew – a name that not only expressed Clem’s resilience against the walker threat but the developers’ commitment to finishing Telltale’s crowning project. Hutchison returned alongside them, thankful that the scenes she’d recorded the day of the layoffs needed little alteration.<\/p>\n “At least a couple months later, after Skybound had picked it up and we got back in the studio, it was kind of good [that we’d finished those scenes], because I didn’t have to relive a lot of the emotional stuff from the day the company shut down,” Hutchison says.<\/p>\n Skybound retained Telltale’s vision for the final two episodes, according to the actress, who only had to make minor changes to Clementine’s dialogue after development switched hands. The major plot points stayed the same.<\/p>\n “It’s not like Telltale wrote [Clementine] to die, and then Skybound said, ‘She’s going to live!’” Hutchison says. “Which is really cool, and that was the only way I was going to feel good about picking up and continuing.”<\/p>\n Just as Clementine has evolved from a scared little girl trapped in a treehouse to one of gaming’s most recognizable heroines, Hutchison’s gone through her own transitions in the last eight years. Her work as Clementine opened doors for her that led her to land more narrative-heavy roles, such as Beauty in The Wolf Among Us and Isa in Minecraft: Story Mode. She’s started working more in animation, too, with credits in shows such as Space Racers and Yo-kai Watch. <\/p>\n “I don’t ever want to say there will never be an experience like this again,” Hutchison says, “…because games are so cinematic now and there are many options [for an actress] for that kind of character growth. But you know, it’s been such an amazing experience. The whole experience feels almost like an amazing dream…”<\/p>\n She’s finished recording dialogue, but Hutchison doesn’t feel like the experience is over just yet.<\/p>\n “I definitely feel, once it’s settled, and I’m done messaging people and showing my gratitude… I have a feeling I’m definitely going to sink into an ‘oh s—, I don’t get to be Clementine anymore!’ mindset,” Hutchison says. “She would have been great as an 18-year-old! She would have been great as a 24-year-old. But she’s alive. I’ll take it.”<\/p>\n Unlike some voice actors, Hutchison is a huge fan of the games she performs in.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Several times during our call, Hutchison emphasizes how grateful she feels to have had the opportunity to work on The Walking Dead. It’s palpable when she recounts working with the “brilliant” developers, or when she remembers the choices she made when she played through each episode as a fan, or when she talks about the great friendships she’s made through Telltale.<\/p>\n “I feel, just ultimately right now, so much gratitude. I feel full. With the completion of this season, with this game, that I am in a really solid place with Clementine right now and she will forever be this precious experience of my life like none other.”<\/p>\n You can read our thoughts on The Walking Dead’s final season here<\/a>. Here’s a feature we ran back when the series debuted in 2012 on how Hutchison built Clementine’s voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/97583472\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_-_lee.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/d61fb1b3\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_3.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/article>\nThe Final Hours<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/cfe2feeb\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_6.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/article>\nThe End Of Telltale Games<\/h2>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/3215ca63\/clementine_smiling.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/article>\nSaying Goodbye to Clementine<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/8f2f2f33\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_4.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/60247ecd\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_header.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/6518e8d3\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Story Of A Girl<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/97583472\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_-_lee.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/d61fb1b3\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_3.jpg\")
<\/article>\nThe Final Hours<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/cfe2feeb\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_6.jpg\")
<\/article>\nThe End Of Telltale Games<\/h2>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/3215ca63\/clementine_smiling.jpg\")
<\/article>\nSaying Goodbye to Clementine<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/04\/05\/8f2f2f33\/melissa_hutchison_clementine_the_walking_dead_4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n