Life is Strange's Katy Bentz Would Love To Bring Back Steph

The Life is Strange franchise features an array of diverse characters, endeavoring to delve into the hard-hitting stories that many other AAA games do not. One of the franchise's characters — and definitely one of fans' most beloved ones — is Steph Gingrich, a DND-loving lesbian. Steph, who is a major character in Life is Strange: True Colors, has resonated with the queer community as a strong, well-written LGBTQIA character.

"[Steph] is that representation of somebody who’s strong, and is confident in herself as a nerd, as a queer woman, as a lover. She’s just confident and that’s beautiful. If you carry on with her story, you see that she does go through a lot of dark turns and places to get to that confidence," Steph's voice actress, Katy Bentz, said in an interview with us at DreamHack Atlanta 2023.

Bentz learned that Steph was a lesbian when she auditioned for the role. Steph's initial description simply described the character as a "nerdy lesbian Dungeon Master."

"[When I got the role], I felt like I was given this gift and this honor to make sure that I brought justice to this character and for the [queer] community," Bentz said. "I’ve gotten and received letters from people in the queer community who feel so connected to Steph and were able to come out because of her story. It gets me emotional, and it means so much to me that our characters have helped people."

While Bentz isn't a part of the LGBT community herself, she's a proud ally and says she's learned a lot about it through her role in the games and interactions with her community. 

"Our characters have genuinely gotten people out of tremendously dark places and allowed them to live their lives more happily and freely. It’s such a special thing that I hold close to my heart moving forward in my own life," Bentz explained. "I'm so grateful that they've welcomed me in as an ally. There’s no words to say about how amazing the community is and I’m just so thankful they’ve accepted me as Steph."

Life is Strange: True Colors and its DLC, Wavelengths, both heavily feature Steph and have been quite successful since their 2021 release — but no word on whether the Life is Strange franchise will continue on any time soon. However, Bentz said she'd love to reprise her role if the opportunity came up.

"I'm very grateful that the fans loved Steph and that the company wanted to keep exploring her story," Bentz added. "If they wanted to bring her back for a fifth time, no one’s going to say no. I’m still rooting for Life is Strange Avengers — just put all the characters in one game and see what happens!" 

Bentz also noted that if the Life is Strange franchise were to continue, she'd love to see new characters that more people could see themselves in.

"I’d like to focus on those characters that we haven't focused on that somebody else can connect with," she said. There's so much representation out there that hasn't been represented in any game."