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Forget everything you thought you knew about heroes. Hayley Atwell, the actress you probably know best as Agent Carter in the MCU, is officially the new villain of Fable. The reveal landed during the Xbox Games Showcase, and it instantly turned the long-awaited reboot into one of the most talked-about RPGs on the horizon.
Hayley Atwell plays Isabel, the self-styled Hero of Wraithmarsh, and she is not your garden-variety baddie twirling a mustache. Isabel claims to be “the one hero Albion needs,” but there’s a creeping menace underneath every word. Per associate narrative director Craig Owens, Isabel is a driven, powerful Hero on a quest to make right a tragic injustice, and grief has turned her pain into a determination that puts her at odds with the Hero of Briar Hill and Humphry, her one-time guardian. In other words, she’s convinced she’s saving the world while she burns it down. The best villains always are.
Meet Isabel, Hayley Atwell, the Villain Who Thinks She’s the Good Guy
If you’re wondering whether Atwell can pull off that kind of moral complexity, the team behind the game has zero doubts. Owens raved that Hayley’s ability to combine vulnerability with strength made her the perfect person to play Isabel, praising the classical training she brought to the voice booth and the grit she gave the role. This is, after all, a performer whose résumé runs deep. Atwell is an award-winning British-American actor whose work spans the Marvel universe, the recent Mission: Impossible films, period dramas like Howards End and The Duchess, the Disney+ series Rivals, and stage turns in Much Ado About Nothing on the West End and Broadway.
And here’s the kicker for longtime fans: Isabel isn’t the only threat looming. The trailer ends with what appears to be the return of Jack of Blades, the masked antagonist from the original Fable, though since Jack has always worn a mask, it could be someone new taking up the mantle.
The cast is stacked with British talent, including Natasia Demetriou of What We Do in the Shadows as Jenny, one of two feuding heirs to the city of Bloodstone. As for when you can finally play it? Fable launches February 23, 2027, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with early access for the Premium Edition starting February 5. Albion has waited a long time. Isabel makes it worth it.
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