AI Summary
5 min readActor Rahul Kohli, best known for his roles in iZombie and Midnight Mass, recently became the face—and body—of a major new PlayStation game, Saros. But what should have been a career peak was immediately shadowed by a wave of racist backlash. In this episode of Flightless Bird, host David Farrier talks with Kohli about the experience, the state of gaming culture, and what it’s like to be a brown actor at the center of a triple-A title.
The Game and the Gamble
Saros is a third-person sci-fi shooter, a new intellectual property from a respected studio. Kohli didn't just voice the main character; he performed the full motion and performance capture, meaning his likeness is the character players control. For a lifelong gamer who once wanted to work in game development, landing the lead role was a dream. Kohli recalls the moment he was offered the part: during a Zoom call, before the studio even showed him the pitch, he told them, “I'm in. It's a yes.” He trusted their reputation. When they finally played the slideshow, he realized he would be the lead, a PlayStation mascot. It was everything he had wanted.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:04) **Cheeseburger Confessions and Video Game Origins** - The hosts establish their personal history with gaming, from the pleasure of Elden Ring and incremental improvement to the guilt of playing as an adult.
- 2 (02:20) **Introducing Rahul Kohli: British Actor, PlayStation Star** - The hosts set up the interview, highlighting Rahul’s role as the lead character in the major PlayStation game *Saros* and his perspective as a non-American in the U.S.
- 3 (03:28) **Console Wars and Cultural Touchstones** - The hosts reminisce about the era of console rivalries, the shift to digital, and the cultural impact of specific games like *GoldenEye* and *Grand Theft Auto*.
- 4 (25:00) **Rahul’s Arrival in LA and the Culture Shock** - Rahul describes moving from London to Los Angeles, the initial thrill of Hollywood Boulevard, and the isolating reality of car-dependent American life.
- 5 (32:31) **America’s Patchwork of Race and Experience** - Rahul shares his firsthand experiences of how America’s racial climate varies drastically by state and has worsened over time, especially for South Asians.
- 6 (43:17) **The Price of Representation: Racism in Gaming** - Rahul reveals the intense, personal backlash he received for being the South Asian lead of *Saros*, detailing the specific and normalized racism he faced.
- 7 (46:04) **A Calculated Strategy: Avoiding the “Race” Trap** - Rahul describes his deliberate media strategy to avoid being reduced to a single story about diversity, which he credits to advice from his partner, Alana.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob are joined on the couch by actor Rahul Kohli. Originally from London, Rahul moved to LA where he ended up being cast in some of David’s favourite shows including iZombie and Netflix’s Midnight Mass. But what really caught our attention recently is that Rahul is starring in a massive Playstation videogame. Rahul is an avid gamer - so this was his dream come true. But as Rob and David discover, the job came with a darker side as well.
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