- The Archer, Russia’s Defense Minister, has secretly influenced events since the franchise’s beginning, now revealed as a major antagonist.
- Captain Price operates as a fugitive in New York after assassinating General Shepherd, showing his humanity rather than pure villainy.
- The dynamic between Price and The Archer creates compelling conflict where both believe they’re right, despite opposing moral positions.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 officially releases on October 23, but some gamers eager to get boots on the ground are already playing the new campaign thanks to early access. This latest chapter in Modern Warfare features a new villain, The Archer (Mads Mikkelsen), and mainstay John Price (Barry Sloane). We spoke with the actors who bring them to life in the popular first-person shooter.
Modern Warfare 4 feels ripped from real-life headlines and set against the backdrop of longstanding tensions between South Korea and North Korea.
The game puts you in the boots of a young South Korean marine embedded in a squad of soldiers that is fighting for survival in the midst of a North Korean invasion that also has global implications.
You also play as everyone’s favorite protagonist, Captain Price, who has gone dark and is on the run after assassinating General Shepherd in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which also led to the disbanding of Task Force 141, putting former allies on opposite sides.
Mads Mikkelsen Reveals The Archer Has Been Working In The Shadows
Modern Warfare also introduces The Archer, played by Mikkelsen, Russia’s Defense Minister, with other titles and global ambitions we won’t spoil. Still, he doesn’t stray far from the Modern Warfare villain tree and threatens global stability.
Speaking with Mikkelsen, he broke down what we can expect from The Archer without giving too much away about the mysterious villain, but he did reveal that, while he is new to the Modern Warfare family, The Archer has been working in the shadows for a long time.
“Well, I’m new to the family, but the Archer is not. Archer has somehow been there since the start, and that will be quite clear once you start playing the game,” Mikkelsen begins. “Something we have waited for, somebody we’ve waited for. He’s got friends in this world, and he’s got enemies, and it’s a blurry world: which one is what? But that’s all I can say. But he has a very big ambition, let’s put it that way.”
Barry Sloane Says Price Is More On The Human Side Than The Darker Side
As for Price, he finds himself in a pickle due to his actions in the previous game. We asked Barry Sloane about returning as the character who is now in a much “darker tone,” now that he is on the run and being pursued by his former teammates Ghost and Gaz; he explained what we are experiencing with Price in this game.
“Well, if you shoot a member of the American military in the face in the Pentagon, it’s definitely a strongly worded letter from HR, probably a dismissal,” Sloane jokingly begins. “And so he’s found himself bunkering down in New York and finding new ways that he can quite possibly be useful. I think what we’re seeing from him isn’t necessarily a darker side, but a more human side.”
He continued, “We’re seeing the process of the weight that he’s carrying more clearly than we’ve seen in previous games. And I think that’s going to make us be actually drawn closer to him than further away, even though some of his actions may appear more questionable morally than in previous games. But I think by the end of the game, when you’ve been on the sticks, you’ll be able to make a decision on how you feel those decisions played out.”
What We Can Expect When The Archer & Price Cross Paths
As for what fans can expect when Price and The Archer cross paths in the game, Mikkelsen teased something to look forward to, while Infinity Ward’s narrative director added that the Casino Royale star shook things up by joining the game’s cast, and that we will not be disappointed.
“We’re going to be excited to see these two together. I think you spoke earlier, didn’t you, about heroes and villains, which is which two sides of one coin, basically elements of each other in each other,” Mikkelsen said. “And so they’ll listen to each other’s viewpoints, and both believe they’re right, I assume. And then there’s an interesting dynamic here. I definitely need him, but I also need a piece of him.”
Negus adds, “I want to share one other thing with you. It’s obviously not an accident that these two guys are in these two roles and the energy that each of these guys brought to it, the new energy from Mace being able to come in and shake things up, very collaborative, very playful, the way that these two work together, it will not disappoint when people get to play the game.”
Consider us very hyped. We are currently making our way through the campaign and will share our thoughts, so keep it locked on HHW Gaming.
