Roger Clark was actually sick when recording Arthur Morgan's TB coughs in Red Dead Redemption 2

Roger Clark, the actor behind Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, has revealed that many of the character's tuberculosis coughing fits were recorded while he was genuinely ill — not performed.

In an interview for a YouTube video about how Arthur Morgan was crafted, Clark explained that the five-year recording process gave him plenty of opportunities to capture real coughs. "If ever there was a really bad coughing scene, we'd always save it for the end of the day," he said. "In five years, there's plenty of colds. There was a lot of data we got that was pretty damn genuine. I'd be like 'Hey, I've got a cold, let me get in there.' And they'd be like, 'Okay.' Nice good bit of phlegm."

Arthur Morgan's tuberculosis is one of the most memorable story beats in Red Dead Redemption 2. The character contracts the disease early on after beating a man to death for money — a brutal karmic turn that slowly defines the back half of the game. Players don't immediately understand why Arthur keeps coughing, until he collapses and gets a formal diagnosis from a doctor. From that point, his condition visibly worsens as the story progresses, and the player's moral choices determine whether Arthur spends his remaining time seeking some form of redemption.

The detail adds another layer to an already acclaimed performance. Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely regarded as one of the best-written games of its generation, and Clark's Arthur Morgan is a big reason why — turns out some of that raw authenticity was quite literally biological.