Directive 8020 is the highest-profile casting Supermassive Games has ever shipped. Lashana Lynch — the Bond film franchise's first Black female 007, MCU's Maria Rambeau, and Aoua in The Woman King — plays first officer Brianna Young, the player's primary protagonist.
About Lashana Lynch
- Born: 1987, London, England.
- Breakthrough: Captain Marvel (2019) as Maria Rambeau.
- Notable roles: Nomi (007 in No Time to Die), Aoua in The Woman King, Maria/Photon in The Marvels.
- BAFTA Rising Star: Won 2023.
Brianna Young — character bio
- Role: First Officer of the colony ship Cassiopeia.
- Bound for: Tau Ceti f, after Earth declared "Directive 8020".
- Carries the player POV across all 8 episodes — about 40% of total screen-time.
- Romantic sub-plot with Thomas Carter (Episode 4).
- Final dialogue wheel in Episode 8 is hers.
Performance & motion capture
Lynch shot her motion capture sessions across 18 weeks at Supermassive's Guildford studio. According to director Will Doyle, Lynch insisted on doing all stunt-rigged scenes personally — including the Episode 5 loadlifter chase. Her facial animation uses Supermassive's new UE5 MetaHuman pipeline.
What this means for the game
- Brianna is the most-screened protagonist in any Dark Pictures entry.
- Even if she dies, recap and flashback scenes use her motion-captured performance.
- Curator's Cut adds new Lynch-only scenes that didn't fit the canonical run.