Nolan North dropped some serious knowledge about the Call of Duty Zombies stakeholders in the recent CODPOD episode, and the fans just cannot get enough. Having given us the T.E.D.D. and Richtofen actors’ own interpretation of some of their cherished lines from all the crazy zombie-slaying chaos, that is quite rare for an underground precedent for one of gaming’s most beloved undead modes.
What did he have to say? He gave it all away as to what really drives all these characters. For those who have been living under a rock, or perhaps hiding away from zombies, Nolan North had in fact become the voice of two of the darkest characters in the whole Call-of-Duty-Zombies storyline. T.E.D.D., the robot sidekick who can be helpful or sarcastic; and Richtofen, the outright mad German scientist- could be a genius or insultingly insane: kinda maybe both.
In any case, the timing is quite interesting, given the current state of Call of Duty, making North’s nostalgic reminiscing about these old Zombies instances all the more relevant. Responses to the official Call of Duty tweet clearly showed, let’s just say, conflicted feelings toward the current direction of the franchise. One user literally said: “Convince dev team to gang up on the guy who keeps forcing zombies to have warzone elements” a sentiment I would wholeheartedly agree with. All this Warzone integration is against the hardcore Zombies community who want pure undead-slaying fun back.
There is also the whole technical stuff with tons of players reporting one problem after another about the current game. “Exfil is glitched,” said one: while some others had overjoyed experiences at round 51 when they actually exfilled, they warned the system might already be broken. Then somebody went wild over the hacks and Cronus Zen users infestation, “If things don’t get better soon I’m out, Battlefield 6 here I come.” Ugh…
But getting back to what Nolan North actually had to say—what sets his whole storytelling apart is that it’s not just what he says but how he says it. Man, he injects that madman energy into Richtofen that is both frightening and hilarious- think cackling over how badly an experiment turned out, or screaming insane scientific observations at the top of his lungs while zombies are piling around him. Of course, T.E.D.D.’s dry, sarcastic, robotic humor perfectly counters that craziness.
North can almost certainly convey how much fun he has doing these jobs. Sometimes voice actors do not get to geek out about their characters with such specifics, but North just went ahead and described specific line deliveries and explained why they work. This is behind-the-scenes stuff that really reminds you that there are actual talented humans doing this as opposed to a bunch of random sound inflections thrown together.
The die-hard community of Zombies has therefore overwhelmingly reacted positively to this podcast for which one user commented, “I mostly play zombies but genuinely enjoy all the behind-the-scenes stuff and info on upcoming content that you guys showcase on these :),” to which the official Call of Duty responded with, “Thanks for watching!” So somehow, they are listening to the community that truly counts, regardless of how many issues the rest of the game has.
The other half stood along, sharing beta stats of upcoming Black Ops 7 anyways, while calling for fixes from precision airstrikes in Warzone to bringing back hardcore modes. On many fronts, the Call of Duty groundswell continues to be passionate and divided, yet everyone can agree that Nolan North will forever be a treasure of the Zombies fraternity.
Factors are wild considering what this Zombies mode even has become since what started on the isle of being relegated to a bonus mode in World at War. What started as a simple survival game has multiplied into a sprawling narrative universe featuring layered plots, inter-dimensional realities, and characters that players almost start to genuinely feel about. Voice-acting like North’s is a large chunk of how so much of it is so well-set-up.
Currently, Call of Duty is a little messy with all the Warzone integration and technical issues, but these are the moments that make us remember why we all fell in love with the franchise in the first place: the characters, the humor, the sheer madness of mowing down hundreds of zombies while a mad scientist cackles about his latest experiment-that is what keeps people coming back year after year.
What lies ahead for Zombies? Who knows? But if they keep bringing back the people that made it great in the first place and finally listen to players to preserve the identity of the mode, the franchise can surely be saved. Big question remains: can they please fix exfil?
PlayStation and Xbox players alike are eagerly awaiting what’s next.
