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Voice actor: Yes, that 'Wolfenstein: The New Colossus' tease at E3 was real

Wolfenstein: The New Order - E3 Trailer
A sequel to 2014’s excellent shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order has not been officially announced, but the voice actor behind protagonist B.J. Blazkowicz has hinted that the follow-up is well underway, and suggested that hawk-eyed fans may have already figured this out.
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In an interview with Two Left Sticks, actor Brian Bloom was asked about the Wolfenstein series’ future following the success of both The New Order and its prequel expansion The Old Blood.

Spoilers for Wolfenstein: The New Order to follow!

“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,” Bloom says. “It sparked a bit of a wildfire. That subtle, very simple DOS language, going through the titles. Perhaps we’re working on that as we speak.”

The “DOS language” Bloom is referencing was shown very briefly during the presentation with a list of several previously announced or released Bethesda games, including the recent Doom game and Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons. Every game listed has a date next to it, except for “New Colossus.” As this fits in with the naming conventions the series has used, it seems fans were correct in assuming that this is a Wolfenstein sequel.

What’s curious, however, is that Bloom said “we’re working” on the game. The New Order ends with Blazkowicz presumably getting blown to pieces by a nuclear strike he called on a Nazi fortress, and though Bloom’s performance could be limited to flashback segments before developer MachineGames hands the reigns to a new protagonist, we find it more likely that B.J. will be coming back from the brink of death once again. If you haven’t heard The New Order‘s closing music, it will make you cry.

In a separate interview last September, “Anya” voice actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus also seemed to have confirmed the existence of the game, saying that she was working on the “second” game in a series, and that development would take about two years to complete.

“Whoever B.J. Blazkowicz 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,” Bloom says. “He’s fighting a war on his own with a very small group of people, completely out-gunned and out-manned. A world taken over by scourge of racism, Nazism, and fascism.”

Blazkowicz’s struggle with Nazis and increased anti-Semitism is further amplified by the — apparent — fact that he’s Jewish. Though former Id Software designer Tom Hall seemed to confirm his heritage a few years ago, the character’s identity was largely ignored in The New Order and The Old Blood, even as other characters spoke in Hebrew and discussed the meaning of the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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