Battlefield 2042 brings back Michael K. Williams’ Irish as a specialist

By Giovanni Colantonio August 12, 2021

Battlefield 2042 is bringing a classic character from the franchise’s past back. Actor Michael K. Williams will reprise his role as Kimble “Irish” Graves from Battlefield 4, appearing as a playable specialist in the latest installment. EA released a special live-action short film called Exodus starring Williams to announce the news.

Kimble “Irish” Graves was a main character in Battlefield 4. Portrayed by Williams, Irish is a U.S. Marine who was a member of the game’s Tombstone squad. Williams will reprise the role in 2042, playing a major part in its wider story, even though the game doesn’t feature a single-player campaign.

Michael K WIlliams plays Irish in Battlefield 2042. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Irish will be one of the game’s playable specialists and is classified as an engineer. He’s described as a defensive character who can create barriers and shield his squad from incoming attacks. Players will be able to grab a legendary Battle Hardened skin for the character. Irish is the fifth confirmed specialist for Battlefield 2042, which will launch with 10 in total.

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As part of the announcement, EA dropped a live-action short film called Exodus, which shed more light on the game’s story. The game revolves around warring factions of “ex-pats” vying for control in a future conflict. Irish is one of the characters at the heart of that conflict. The film stars Williams, who most notably blows up a helicopter with a rocket launcher in the short.

Battlefield 2042 launches on October 22 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It’ll launch with the all-new Battlefield Portal program, which allows players to create custom matches via a web browser tool.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Senior Gaming Editor

As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…

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"It is a great honor to have the opportunity to collaborate with DICE and Ripple Effect and lead the charge on expanding the narrative, storytelling, and character development opportunities in the Battlefield series," says Lehto in a statement.

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Battlefield 2042 is a multiplayer-only game, so having an interesting progression system is key to ensuring players stick around. Currently, players can increase their Player Level as they also make their way through a battle pass. The Assignments feature will now allow players to seamlessly work toward unlocking Vault Weapons, which are guns that were previously only available in Battlefield Portal or previous seasons.

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Battlefield 2042's launch didn't go quite as planned for EA. While it was poised to be the publisher's next live service hit, it floundered at launch due to an overwhelming number of bugs, a controversial ability-driven specialist system, maps that felt way too big, and more. While Digital Trends' reviewer loved the base game, many players didn't, so EA spent months fixing it. As a result, Season 1: Zero Hour was pushed back all the way to June 9, over six months after the game's launch. Ahead of its release, I got the opportunity to try out some of Season 1's new content a see if Battlefield 2042 has really changed for the better.
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Battlefield 2042 | Season 1: Zero Hour Gameplay Trailer Premiere
What's new?
The main additions coming to Battlefield 2042 at the start of Season 1 are a new rocket launcher-wielding specialist named Ewelina Lis, a new map set in the Canadian Rockies called Exposure, new weapons including a crossbow and marksman rifle, and a battle pass containing lots of free and paid unlockables. It's definitely the meatiest batch of content Battlefield 2042 has received since launch, but it doesn't revamp or fix every core problem with the game.

Starting with the battle pass, don't expect any wild crossover or crazy outfits, just a lot of new realistic looks for your specialists, vehicles, and weapons. It is challenge-based, which Halo has shown the downsides of, but thankfully 30 tiers of it are free and the only things unlocked by paying up are cosmetic. That means everyone will be able to try the new specialist Ewelina Lis. She is a helpful Engineer Specialist as she always has a rocket launcher at her disposal to help destroy vehicles.
While I found the new Ghostmaker R10 Crossbow and BSV-M Marksman Rifle to be too slow and not powerful enough to be very useful in a game with such a quick time to kill, Lis may be a useful specialist that will stick around on most squads. She's particularly useful on the brand-new map Exposure.
When previewing the new season, I got to try out both Conquest and Breakthrough on Exposure, a map that supports both 128-player and 64-player matches. As it takes place in and around a base built into the side of a mountain, it has one of the most distinctive and vertical layouts of any new Battlefield 2042 map. The tensest firefights took place in a spot nestled on the side of the mountain, as players could flank from within the mountain on foot or from the skies in new stealth helicopters. While I enjoyed those moments and attacking the base in the helicopter, it still felt a bit too big to traverse on foot outside of that base, a common problem with all of Battlefield 2042's maps.