It seems that we’ve gotten more indication that a Wolfenstein: The New Order sequel may be in the works, straight from its protagonist’s voice actor.
Brian Bloom, an industry veteran, recently gave an interview about his role in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. His writing credits include The A-Team (2010) and has had acting roles in Dragon Age and– relevantly– as the protagonist of Wolfenstein: The New Order, B.J. Blazkowicz.
Bloom brought a lovable, earnest thickness to a character who was previously just a grunting face in the corner of a player’s screen. For example: In standalone expansion for The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, at one point Blazkowicz has to give false papers to a Nazi guard. A much bigger official looks at the papers and asks in German if he is “a Frankfurter”, as his papers specify he is from Frankfurt. We see this in subtitles; Bloom’s Blazkowicz, whose German is abominable, stutters back in broken German, “Yes. Eh, a… ‘Hot Dog’.” It’s a funny and vulnerable moment for the muscular gunman.
In the interview, Bloom was asked about his role in the Wolfenstein franchise, especially given the cliffhanger ending of The New Order. Bloom had this to say: “I’ll be safe with this answer. If you look at Bethesda’s E3 2016 lineup there was a title hinted at in a cool way. It sparked a bit of wildfire. That subtle, very simple DOS language, going through the titles. Perhaps we’re working on that as we speak.” He is, of course, referring to the following image, which follows the released Wolfenstein games with a game titled “New Colossus”, the one project without a release date in the list.
Bloom also had some thoughtful responses as to where the series will go with the character: ”Whoever B.J. Blaskowicz was, in the content we have so far, he’s the articulation of a promise not kept; a country that surrendered while he was in a coma. He’s fighting a war on his own with a very small group of people, completely outgunned and out-manned. A world taken over by scourge of racism, Nazism, and fascism. Anya and their relationship in many ways is B.J. attempting to give redemption to the dream lost. Those ideals that he has that might be idealistic – marriage, children, living in a free world. It’s all part of who he is. Putting my own feelings aside, and giving the audience all room to have their own feelings about this. I think we can agree that his core convictions are related to that kind of loyalty.”
Bloom has brought a lot of depth to the character, and it’s been interesting to see Bethesda develop the series. They brought back The New Order as seemingly a testing grounds, to see if an “old school” shooter works with modern upgrades and sells in a modern market. (The massively successful Doom reboot is a good indication of why they did this.) Wolfenstein, however, has become a much more story-based game, and it’s been interesting to see them put a lot of stock into who their brawny, brainless patriot is as a character.
Whenever Wolfenstein: The New Colossus releases, it’ll likely be an interesting addition to the series. Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood are both available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.