As the Warhammer franchise continues to spread the word of its grim and dark universe, more and more people are discovering its rich narrative depths and bevy of content to bury their attention into. And the soon-approaching epic RTS game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV is looking to be no exception.
The Dawn of War series has helped set a high bar for the genre and many Warhammer fans for almost a quarter of a century. The addictive gameplay, fascinating stories, and satisfying action helped many players discover and deepen their love for Warhammer 40K. One of those people was a young Alex Jordan, who has since become a talented voice actor, with credits in games like The Alters, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Crimson Desert and recently announced Emberville, just to name a few.
Alex Jordan has now earned the honour of voicing Chaplain Ezrael in the upcoming installment, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. He kindly shared some time, stories, and behind-the-scenes insights with CGMagazine’s Jason Hon that shed some light on his upcoming role and his personal love for the grimdark universe that is Warhammer 40K.
You’ve helped bring a lot of stories to life from many beloved franchises like Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer, just to name a few. What about playing characters in the fantasy/sci-fi genre is so appealing to you?
Alex Jordan: Generally, I think that fantasy offers something that is immediately accessible to everyone. It is a heightened sense of everything. You have heightened repercussions, you have heightened emotions, heightened situations. Everything is dialled up a notch. And as a result, you can underlay everything with a nice big brushstroke that conveys something immediately before you then go in on the very fine little details.
So I think that fantasy is just a really excellent way to rapidly bring someone into a place of understanding a message that is being conveyed. For me personally, I think it’s the greatest storytelling medium.
I think there’s people out there who [say they] just can’t get into fantasy because it doesn’t feel right because it’s not real life; they need the kind of grounded element. To them I say: that’s what really good fantasy does; it gives you that grounded element.
Sometimes, fantasy for fantasy’s sake can feel inaccessible. But when it’s built upon a foundation of absolute truth or human experience, it’s just the best. It’s the best storytelling format, I think, or best setting. Be it science fiction fantasy, be it historical fantasy, be it high fantasy, whatever it is. It’s just everything dialled up a notch.
Art is inherently political. Anyone who makes any form of art is inherently political because it comes from a certain viewpoint. It conveys a certain experience that is inherently a political thing. I think it’s socio-political; fantasy is a way of engaging people [with complex] topics and those conversations without it immediately feeling too close to home for some people.
With fantasy, you can totally go into all of those things, but it doesn’t necessarily have that immediate feel [of being] a bit much because [it’s removed from the real] thing in the world.
Well put. Speaking of politics, Warhammer’s lore can get very political. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got originally interested in the Warhammer franchise, and what about it has kept you coming back?
Alex Jordan: I think my route was via the tabletop with my cousin. They had so many minis! If he ends up taking in this interview, I want to apologize to my cousin. He had a whole array of minis, predominantly 40K, and plenty of Space Marines. Then basically my dad was like, “Okay, you seem to like this.”
I must have been about six or seven when I first started. And he was like, “There’s a Games Workshop not far from where I grew up.” It was over in Portsmouth, and he was like, “Do you want to go and check it out?” I used my birthday money, and I initially got the Bretonnia and Lizard Men starter set. And then I got another starter set, which was Bretonnia versus Orcs. And I fell in love.
Then I started to buy a little bit of 40K, and I inherited my cousin’s 40K collection. And what’s really nice is that as I got older and I moved out, and all of my old 40K sat back at my childhood home, I thought to myself, “What I should do is [pass my old stuff down to] my other cousins and their kids.” I passed it down to them because they were getting into Warhammer. So it kind of went zigzag across the family.
So that was my gateway in, but in terms of what kept me in, it was the stories and the narrative in the world outside of the tabletop stuff. Engaging with what was in the books, in the manuals and the different faction handbooks, and then there was Dawn of War 1. Dawn of War I and II were my route into the way in which stories can be told in the universe. It’s honestly a hugely important series to me as a gamer and why I love games so much. It’s really cool to have an RTS that has such a compelling, strong storyline alongside it. It is really, really cool.
Before we dive into your Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV character, Chaplain Ezrael, I was curious if you have any particular memory related to Warhammer from your youth that sticks in your brain that you’d be willing to share?
Alex Jordan: Me and my dad built some terrain. We took chicken wire and newspaper papier-mache over the top and painted it and put down flocking and had a little river running through it. All that, and my minis were out in the garage.
I sat out there painting these minis and setting up scenes on this terrain that I’d made with my dad and my friend Ahmed, who lived around the corner. He was part of the tennis club with me, and one time we were paper-macheing and we saw a picture of him in the local newspaper as we were paper-macheing from a tennis tournament that he had done. And so this little hill on the terrain thing we nicknamed Amid’s Mound.
I have so many nice little memories like that with my dad and my friend and making the scenes. It was really cool.
In Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War IV, you are playing Chaplain Ezrael, the newest addition to the epic real-time strategy game. What can you tell us about the character and what kind of performances did the character pull out of you while recording?
Alex Jordan: So he’s a chaplain, as you said. The fun thing about the chaplains is that they are the stalwart line following the doctrine, keeping everyone on the path, reminding everyone of the reasons why they do what they do. There’s obviously deep religious messaging and themes throughout. They are really like a cardinal; they have this sense that when you speak with them, you speak directly to the very ethics of what the Space Marines are.
So with that, you get to find the voice and find what this heightened version of what a spaceman can be. I got to really dial it right up and give a performance that was just sort of super zealous, super committed. At no point does it really sound like he’s just throwing a line away to someone because every time he speaks, it is for a reason and a purpose, and it is to guide. It was a lot of fun and kind of helped dictate and direct the way in which we found the voice.
As someone who has only dabbled in the RTS genre, Dawn of War IV‘s gameplay trailers have enticed me like no other game in the genre. What are some tips that you can offer for players who are interested in checking out Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, but haven’t touched any of the previous installments?
Alex Jordan: I would say go back and play [the previous Dawn of War games]. Honestly, go back and play them; the story of the Blood Ravens is excellent. There’s so many expansions to those games now, different stories in there to be told. Obviously, they are games that are of a certain time. It’s wild how well it still stands up [22 years after the original Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War released].
I went back to Dawn of War I, and was playing some days ago. Playing skirmishes and some of the campaign battles, and I think they’re one of the most definitive RTS games out there. So I think go back, give them a play, but if you wanna jump on in, [Dawn of War IV] is accessible. You’ll have a further understanding if you go back and play [past installments], but I think it’s the kind of game where you can just pick it up and play and have some fun.
With your longtime love of Warhammer and the Dawn of War series, I would love to hear how you scored the role in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV and what it was like to get hired for it?
Alex Jordan: So I auditioned for four characters. I sent it off from where I was living at the time, which was basically a walk-in wardrobe space. It was an ex-council apartment, which are small, but the benefit of them is that they have good storage. So it had this little cupboard that I converted into a [recording] booth.
I remember cramming myself in the end of this booth, shouting at the top of my voice these lines. And it was fine because the other great thing about these council flats is they are thick concrete in all directions. So I could go in there and scream these big, epic Space Marine lines. And I got to let it rip and know that my neighbours couldn’t hear me, which is great.
When I was auditioning, I hoped most of all that I would get the chaplain. That was the one that I loved the idea of, and therefore I kind of let that voice, that epic zealous voice, kind of seep into all of the other tapes that I did. Because the 40K universe is big and it’s epic, I let myself do everything at 11 on all of the takes because I think subconsciously I was like, “If I do the [lines at] 11 for everything, they’ll hopefully bring me in for the chaplain”. And they did.
With Warhammer now more popular than ever. What is one particular story that you wish got more attention or that you hope would possibly see adapted in like a short series or a movie?
Alex Jordan: Yeah, I honestly would like to see more of the Salamanders, who are the most, not humane, but they’re the most empathetic for everyday people within the Warhammer universe. And I think that’s a really cool thing to explore. I think in order for that to have an impact on people who are entering the universe for the first time, we need to see something that is on opposite ends of the spectrum. Like some sort of gray knight, I’d love to see a [Warhammer adaptation explore] both ends of the spectrum.
The one end, which is the sort of absolute brutality the Space Marines can represent and the dogged adherence to dogma. But then on the other end, in order to give the universe a little bit of light and balance, I’d love to see the Salamanders and get to see that compassion and humanity come through.
I always like to ask talented people who have worked on a lot of legendary releases in their past, if there’s any previous roles of yours that you believe deserve more attention that you would like people to check out?
Alex Jordan: Jan Dolsky in The Alters, a game that I just did where I played, initially, 12 alternate timeline versions of the same character. And then we just did the expansion for the game and added a further four. So we’re now at 16 versions of one man, all alternate timeline versions of him. [They’re] kind of clones, but not clones; all the same, but a different person with unique personalities and different voices, but kind of all linked.
I like to describe it as they’re all different branches off the same tree trunk. No two branches are the same. All of them have their own unique identity, but you can tell they stem from the same trunk. It was a crazy experience and, you know, I hope even more people get to play it, explore, and enjoy that.
You previously mentioned how several of your family members are invested in Warhammer; what were their reactions to hearing the news that you’d be helping bring some Warhammer 40K stories to life?
Alex Jordan: I saw my cousin’s kids at a wedding, the ones who I gave the minis to, and they were like, “Can you stop literally being in things that we like? Like everywhere we turn, there’s something that we enjoy, and you’re in it.” And that’s cool. Like the first few times, but after a while, they’re like, “Man, he’s here again.” So, you know, yeah, they love it. It is very, very cool when you get to do something that, when you’re doing it, you know, specific family members, specific people that you know and love will get to enjoy.
You know, there’s times I do cartoons, and I go, “My nephews are going to absolutely love that.”, or I do a Warhammer thing and “My cousin’s kids are going to absolutely love that.”, or I do an audio play, and I’m like, “My parents are going to love this.”
While you were recording for Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War IV, were there any particular moments while recording that really stick out that you’d like to share?
Alex Jordan: I’ve got a great moment that I have a video of, which, when the time comes, I’ll share it. But it is a video of me in the booth on a day that I had my dog with me, and he very clearly wanted to be held and picked up while I was there shouting at the top of my lungs.
It’s a great video as I shout this line, and it’s epic, and it’s this big war moment. And I’m just holding this dog, and he’s just flopped in my arms, and I finished the line and he just sort of like sits up and nestles his head on my shoulder. That was a nice moment. And I had a lot of fun getting to deliver these lines while sort of rocking and cradling my dog to help him settle.
It sounds like they approved of the performance.
Alex Jordan: Yeah, I think I got a lick on my cheek, which I think means a director’s “good job” kind of note.
So the director licked your cheek? I don’t know if that’s okay.
Alex Jordan: I did go straight to HR. Yeah, I went straight to HR.
Alex Jordan provided his voice acting talents for the role of Chaplain Ezrael in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, which releases on September 17, 2026, for PC via Steam.
