A lot of returning faces are coming back for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, but that doesn’t mean the voices are. With the confirmation that returning faces like Woods and Hudson are making a comeback with the next iteration of the Black Ops franchise, it has been confirmed that the voice behind one such returning name, Frank Woods, is not signed on for the project. From the sounds of it, that wasn’t due to his choice.
Woods has a very distinct sound in the original games; this hardened soldier was beloved by the community so it’s easy to see why a different voice actor was spotted pretty quickly. Original actor James C Burns recently revealed that he was “bummed” that he wasn’t asked to return to reprise the role of Woods for the upcoming Cold War adventure.
He later revealed that he still doesn’t know why he wasn’t asked to reprise his role as Woods, though a big conspiracy theory is that he was blocked after helping out with a fanmade Zombies map. While this theory has gained a lot of traction, Burns did debunk this, though didn’t mention what the reason given was.
No. That is not an issue!! https://t.co/zdc0T7g4DG
— james c burns (@jamescburns) August 27, 2020
According to Burns, “I’m sure the story is going to be f* brilliant. It’s just that if I could have brought all that I know … like, I’ve got 80,000 pounds of weight to bring to this thing.” He added, “Not a knock on whoever they got in to do it, but he doesn’t have the background I have with Woods. I’ve got 11 years with this guy, man, and I have all this backstory and all this front-loaded stuff … and I know the man!”
James C Burns is NOT happy about being recast. You done him dirty Treyarch and I don’t respect that! from r/blackopscoldwar
He’s not wrong and a lot of fans agree – if you’re going to bring back these characters and the original voice actors are available, it would only make sense to bring back the people that helped shape these fictional faces and their place in the community’s mind. Treyarch hasn’t mentioned why they brought back some and not others, but we definitely would have loved to see Burns back in those bootstraps.
Related: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Will Have Multiple Endings and Side Quests
It’s fairly obvious in the video above that Burns has a lot of passion for the character and hurt over being passed over. He did a phenomenal job at bringing Woods to life, though we’re still very glad to see a familiar face.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War debuts on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 13th. What are your thoughts on the latest entry and of the Call of Duty franchise as a whole? Sound off with your thoughts over on Twitter @PrimaGames, we’d love to hear what you think!
