Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is best known for its off-the-wall, bombastic campaign that, in hindsight, is nonsensical. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II might share a name with the 2009 title, but its subject matter and story are a far cry from the 2009 title. We had a chance to sit down with Head Writer Brian Bloom and Narrative Director Jeff Negus to learn more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s story, how it differs from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and any possible connections to the Black Ops series. To learn more about the campaign, be sure to check out our main preview. For details on multiplayer and Warzone, be sure tocheck out this preview.
[Hardcore Gamer] Please, set the stage. Modern Warfare II is a sequel to Modern Warfare 2019. Where in the timeline does Modern Warfare II pick up? Who are the enemies this time?
[Brian Bloom] It’s three years later. The last game ended with the formation of Task Force 141. Now, the team is assembled, and they’ve been fighting covert missions, special operations, and going after bad guys all over the world.
[Jeff Negus] It’s globetrotting. We’re going to Europe, the Middle East, and Mexico. So you’re going to see a lot of different places in this campaign.
[Bloom] I think the connective tissue, aside from Price and Gaz, is the premise of setting up the team and pitting them against one of our enemies, Al-Qatala. This game really is about alliances and unholy alliances, and that enemies are willing to do things that you wouldn’t do. What happens when they form an unholy alliance? That’s kind of our way of hinting there are multiple enemies in this game.
[Negus] Without getting into the specifics of who these factions are, at the center of it is that traumatic element of if they’re willing to do things you aren’t, are you willing to stoop to their level to get the job done?
Several characters from the original Modern Warfare trilogy have been reimagined for this new, rebooted series and start in different places from their counterparts. Price didn’t end the 2019 reboot going into the Gulag, nor did Gaz die like in Call of Duty 4. Now, you’re bringing back Ghost and Soap. How do these characters differ from their original trilogy counterparts?
[Negus]: One of the things we really enjoyed about working on both titles is taking elements of the original franchise and reimagining them. We want to take what made them cool and what made them really resonate with fans and build on them to make something different.
[Bloom]: I think the characters in the original trilogy were amazing, which is why we’re so excited to reimagine and reintroduce them. In that regard, the characters were maybe more plot-driven rather than character-driven. What’s interesting for us, and, hopefully, for the audience, is taking somebody like Ghost and seeing what can be done to humanize that man behind the mask, that lone wolf. We took this campaign as an opportunity to work in new arcs for Ghost and the other characters.
[Negus]: Building on what Brian’s saying. Something we really care about that we think we could build on from the previous game is making sure that these characters' arcs aren’t solely plot-driven. We’re trying to take that position of who they are and what they think about what is happening. We want them to recognize their limitations and have the other characters react to those limitations.
[Bloom]: For somebody like Soap, he was always treated as the green, most junior guy. So, in the same way we talk about Ghost being the lone wolf, what is it about being the most junior person on the team that you could actually work with? We looked at the characters this way to make them more dynamic and character-driven. Overall, I think there’s more arcs and dynamics we can build within the team this time around.
Modern Warfare II is the first sequel to the Call of Duty titles that incorporated post-launch seasonal storytelling. How has that storytelling affected how you’ve written Modern Warfare II’s narrative? Will we see characters like Farrah and Nicolai return, or is what happened in Verdansk non-canon?
[Bloom]: It is canon. We made that stuff, and we’re conscious of it. It was deliberate and intentional and all part of the narrative universe. Now, how those things play into where we are now, well, we’d like to leave some room for our players to discover.
[Negus]: Exactly, we really wanted to make Modern Warfare II as accessible as possible as a jumping-in point. So, although I agree with Brian that it’s canon, we want how characters show up to be things players discover as they play. So we took the seasonal storytelling as a way to take what we want from it but also still have room to bring in brand new characters.
[Bloom]: The best thing about it is the way you described it. You have the central group, which is Task Force 141, and then we have the greater group of characters that the audience and 141 have relationships with because of what happened in the seasonal story. So let’s see how it may come up.
The original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was a massive shift in terms of tone. Call of Duty 4 and World at War were seen as more grounded entries, but then Modern Warfare 2 went big and loud. Modern Warfare 2019 toned things back down a bit. So far, Modern Warfare II seems a bit lighter in tone than its predecessor. How big do you plan to go with the spectacle?
[Bloom]: It’s interesting. I don’t know if I want to fully agree that it’s a lighter tone, necessarily. It’s a different kind of drama, serious tone, and approach. However, I wouldn’t want you to think the stakes are any lower. These are very high-stake situations. This is an entertainment product, and there’s a way to escape into it and have fun, but I wouldn’t want to undermine the seriousness of the story we have.
[Negus]: Absolutely. Being provocative to a certain degree is baked into the DNA of Modern Warfare. It’s not overly sensational for sensationalist’s sake necessarily but rather driven by the people in these situations. That’s a commonality between 2019 and Modern Warfare II. We’re really trying to put the player in the center of the events to see through the eyes of the characters. We worked hard to get performances from people that could really showcase that drama and emotion. This game has a lot of fun in it, but we for sure want to stay grounded.
So, should players not expect a crazy, wild jump like what we saw going from Call of Duty 4 to Modern Warfare 2? Are scenarios and setpieces staying more grounded and believable versus going full Michael Bay?
[Negus]: Our team cares so much about reality, and we’re trying to pull back to make sure it’s grounded. If something starts to feel like it’s veering away from that, we ask how we can pull it back to make it feel as real as possible.
[Bloom]: We’re inspired by real life. We work closely with our technical advisors to make sure we keep things grounded and realistic. The goal is to find as much authenticity as possible. The drama, action, and adventure are there, and the characters bind you to those moments so that it’s not just a series of setpieces. There’s some big exciting stuff in this game.
[Negus]: All that is seen through the eyes of realized characters that have opinions and backstories.
[Bloom]: Yeah, the objective for us is to make that spectacle count and for you, the player, to feel it. We want the campaign to speak and engage with you. So we carefully crafted it that way.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War surprised players with the huge Zakhaev reveal, implying that the Black Ops and Modern Warfare universes are connected. Any comment on some Black Ops characters maybe crossing over into Modern Warfare?
[Negus]: You know, when it comes to working with other studios on developing canon, there are certainly things on the table. However, our main focus for this game is the Modern Warfare franchise and characters. Never say never, though.
[Bloom]: Yeah, there are good ideas, and it did happen. It does imply a connection, at least one that did occur in the past during the Cold War era. There’s certainly room for things like that to happen.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II launches October 28 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
