Even in 2026, Starfield still feels like a game with a basement full of unopened boxes, and I keep rummaging through them. The Settled Systems are enormous, with more than 20 recruitable companions, dozens of factions, and enough planets to make a completionist weep into their spacesuit. But the game also keeps whispering about what almost was. As a player, I find that cut content is often more fascinating than the polished final version, because it shows the messy human decisions behind a polished space epic.
The latest rabbit hole for me is Cora Coe, Sam Coe’s book-loving daughter. A dataminer named Deebz__ shared footage of cut dialogue in which Cora explains fictional backstories for three different Vasco-type robots that were supposed to be found around Constellation’s headquarters, The Lodge. Their names were Flan, Gertrude and Buck. Honestly, that is adorable. Cora’s imagination runs laps around the room, and the idea of the Lodge being cluttered with named robot sidekicks gives the place a warmer, weirder personality. Sadly, those extra robots were cut from the final game, which means Flan, Gertrude and Buck exist only as ghosts in the code.
That dialogue is fun on its own, but the bigger revelation is that Cora was also intended to be a proper crew member, not just an extension of Sam. According to the datamined details, she would have had a much larger role in the game. That changes the picture quite a bit. Instead of being the kid who tags along because her father makes questionable parenting choices, Cora could have been part of the player’s crew roster, with her own assignments and maybe her own little personality quirks.
| Cut content | What it would have done | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Flan, Gertrude and Buck | Three extra Vasco-type robots at The Lodge, each with Cora’s invented backstory | Would have made Constellation HQ feel more lived-in and playful |
| Cora as crew member | Allowed players to assign Cora to ships or outposts independently of Sam | Would have expanded her role far beyond a background NPC |
| Book payment dialogue | Cora asks to be paid in books for her crew work | A charming detail that fits her character perfectly |
| Possible follower role | No indication she was meant to follow the player into combat | Probably a wise limitation, given the obvious controversy |
Now, I have to say the full crew member idea opens a wormhole of uncomfortable questions. Sam Coe is charming, no kidding, but as a parent he is a walking safety hazard. He brings his 12-year-old daughter along while he serves as the player’s companion, even if she stays behind on the ship. That does not make things much better. She is left alone on an unfamiliar planet while her father runs off to trade gunfire with Spacers or alien creatures. If Cora had become a full crew member, players could have assigned a child to work alone at an empty outpost many star systems away. That is not a babysitting plan. That is a management disaster with a jump drive.
Deebz__ also noted that Cora’s voice actress, Aly Ward Azevedo, had already recorded dialogue in which Cora asks if players could pay her with books for her work as a crew member. That should amuse anyone who has tried to give Cora one of the many novels found in the base game, only to get little in return. I have done that. I have stood there holding a dusty paperback like a hopeful uncle, and the game just sort of smiled politely and moved on. That silence says plenty.
Despite the crew member role, there is no indication that Cora would have been a follower too. That is probably for the best. Sending a child into firefights would have been a controversy waiting to happen, even if a smaller companion could have been useful for stealth players. Cora could hide behind cover more easily than Vasco or the adult-sized allies, which is a clever mechanical thought, but also a deeply strange one when you remember she is a kid. Bethesda streamlining her role makes complete sense, even if the lost version is more interesting to talk about.
What strikes me most in 2026 is how these fragments keep the game alive. Starfield is still a massive playground, and the modding community continues to poke at its bones, but cut content has a special pull. It is the road not taken, the joke that never landed, the robot trio that never got to gather dust in the Lodge. Cora’s lost crew-member arc is a reminder that games are shaped by subtraction as much as addition. Sometimes the final version is cleaner. Sometimes it is safer. And sometimes, honestly, it is a little less magical than the version that only exists in a dataminer’s video and a player’s imagination.