Apex Legendsseason 25 is right around the corner, with a new character named Sparrow debuting this season. Sparrow’s kit revolves around being a bounty hunter, complete with a Double Jump passive, a Tracker Dart passive that marks and track enemies within its range, and a Stinger Bolt ultimate that damages and slows enemies hit by it. Of course, all of his narrative and lore in thisnewApex Legendsseasonrevolves around being a bounty hunter as well.
Game Rant recently spoke withApex Legendsnarrative director Amanda Doiron, narrative writer Heather Woodward, and Sparrow designer John Ellenton about the creation of this new Legend (and his adorable cat Artemis).The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Apex Legends S25 Character Sparrow Makes His Mark
Q: Can you talk a little bit about how Sparrow’s story changed throughout development? I always love hearing how a Legend’s story shaped up.
Woodward: His story didn’t actually change much throughout development; it was just continuously fine-tuned. We always start with the kit and use that as our initial inspiration. Early on, we felt the kit made sense for a bounty hunter, but for the characterization, we didn’t want to do astereotypical bounty hunter: a scarred up, seasoned, gritty gunslinger who only cares about the bottom line and collecting on the bounty. We also hadn’t done a male or a comedic character for a bit, so that was always part of the goal. To subvert the bounty hunter tropes, we went with a young, fun guy who is as deadly as he is charming. You never want a character to come off too perfect though, so he’s also reckless to a fault and can be a bit out of his element at times. Once we figured out these personality parameters, I started building his backstory, and it’s been falling into place ever since.
Q: Sparrow is described as “shunned by his family.” I was curious if you could talk about how family dynamics play into the story development process. Do these typically arise naturally or is there like a “relationship-building process,” for lack of a better word?
Woodward:Relationships have to be explored when writing new characters because you really see who a person is when they can bounce off other personalities—We’re different alone in a vacuum than we are at a party. His story is centered around family for two main reasons: First because family is so integral to Italians (some of the dynamics with his family are inspired by the Italian side of my family) and second because he’s a younger guy and there aren’t many other important people in his life yet. We weren’t looking to make aLegend connected to any previous Legendsthis time around, so we had to really flesh out his past.
Q: Similarly, could you talk a little bit about his kit’s development process? Were other abilities for passives/tacticals/ultimates ever considered?
Ellenton: The whole kit really started with the tactical. We had the trap that can reveal enemies as the main play pattern, then we looked to find a passive and ultimate that would work well with it. For the ultimate, we tried a bunch of things. We had a big net trap and we tried a bunch of different versions ofair support ships, but none of them worked out. For the passive, we tried something that tied into him being a bounty hunter where you would add enemies marked by your tactical to a bounty list. This would give you some tracking info for enemies on the list. This ended up being a bit too much mental load. Then we realized we wanted to give him a way to get height quickly since the abilities work well when you have a good vantage point to use them.
Sparrow the Bounty Hunter
Q: Who would you say works with Sparrow the best team-comp wise?
Ellenton: Sparrow pairs nicely with assault legends and skirmishers. Any Legend that is good at keeping up with Sparrow and has an aggressive playstyle that can utilize the tracking information Sparrow gives:Legends like Ash, Maggie, Pathfinder, and Revenant, for example. That being said, he can slot into most teams because the tracking from his tactical and zoning from the ultimate is pretty universal.
Q: Likewise, which legends do you think counter Sparrow the best?
Ellenton:Mirage is a really good counter. You can trick his traps with Decoys making him hard to track. Silence is also great for stopping his passive and shutting down his abilities for Ballistic and Seer to do well there.
Q: Robin Hood was mentioned as a bit of inspiration for Sparrow. I was wondering if you could discuss the parallels there?
Woodward:The funny thing about this inspiration is that I was already looking towards Robin Hood as an aspect of his personality before we actually really locked in that he was an archer. While building out the lore of his bounty hunter clan Clessidra Rossa, I wanted them to be moral, respected, and revered—unlike your typical bounty hunter tropes—and that bounty hunting was a way of life, not a job. It created an interesting puzzle for Sparrow’s personality: What does rebelling look like for a morally good character when we’re establishing that his family is also striving to be good? Robin Hood is the answer here. He’s technically a criminal, but he’s doing it for good, not the love of the crime or anything like that. The Clessidra Rossa sees everything as right or wrong, but Sparrow sees a gray area which makes him sometimes act in the gray.
Q: Who is Sparrow’s actor, and what made them the perfect fit for this character?
Doiron:There were a number of elements we wanted to nail with Sparrow’s voice and personality: youthful, funny, warm, confident yet not cocky, and someone who sounds authentically Italian. We actually did a number of casting calls before we finally found our perfect Sparrow: Loris Scarpa. Not only did he nail all of our ambitious requirements, but he understood Sparrow immediately. He just inhabited him so well, especially his comedic voice.
Sparrow and Artemis: Inseparable Strays
Q: Can we please have all the Artemis lore? What influenced Artemis breed-wise?
Woodward:WE LOVE ARTEMIS! I knew I wanted Sparrow to have a pet so he wasn’t entirely alone in the world after being shunned, and I chose a cat because I met dozens of the friendliest, most wonderful stray cats when I visited Italy. She’s named Artemis both for the “Goddess of the Hunt” and archery aspects, but it’s also the name of one of our dev’s beautiful black cats. The name felt like kismet. Her breed is a fabulous creation from our concept artist and animation team. Some of her features are based around technical needs, but she’s got little short legs and big tall ears for maximum cuteness. If you’re going to have anadorable cat, why not really go for it and make the cutest cutie imaginable? I want my own Artemis.
As for her lore, she’s a stray that slowly warmed up to Sparrow. Initially, he thought she was a boy and named her Romeo (a very Italian cat name—if you know, you know). One day, after not seeing her for a while, she hobbles up to his window very beaten up. He races her to the vet who tells him that this little huntress must’ve fought something huge, and that she’s actually a girl (Sparrow never thought to, you know, check.) After he gets her patched up, he puts a collar on her with a tracker in her Cornicello charm to keep an eye on her in case she gets into trouble again. When he’s shunned, he doesn’t get to say bye to her, but it’s okay because as he gets to his new apartment, she darts in past his feet. It turns out that she’s a tracker too and was keeping tabs on him. The two strays have been inseparable ever since.
Q: For fun, Sparrow is a cat-person. What kind of animals do you think past Legends you’ve worked on would adopt?
Woodward: I love this question. For the ones that don’t already have pets…
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