In the official story trailer for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, gamers can catch a glimpse of UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor and a good look at the villain of the title, played by Game of Thrones star Kit Harington, known for his role as Jon Snow.
For McGregor, there was a time when Call of Duty was a part of his daily regimen, with the fighter training as much as he was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
"It's an absolute honor to be part of a franchise so big, and to be leading the way for my fellow competitors in the UFC," McGregor said regarding his role as Captain Bradley Fillion in the upcoming shooter.
In the game, Fillion serves the Settlement Defense Front, which is led by Admiral Salen Kotch. Kotch, played by Harington, is looking to eradicate all the enemies of the new establishment.
The official story trailer reveals a much more cinematic approach for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare compared with previous games in the franchise. This should attract more players to the game's single player mode, as previous Call of Duty titles were mostly played as online multiplayer shooters.
The trailer narrated that the Settlement Defense Front built an army to turn against the residents of Earth. A massive war begins as Kotch is able to destroy most of the defenses of Earth, with only two ships of Earth's forces remaining operational. Captain Reyes is suddenly thrust into the role of the leader of one of the ships, named Retribution, along with its small crew.
Players will be taking on the role of Reyes as he and the Retribution look to stop Kotch and the Settlement Defense Front.
Harington was featured as Kotch for a significant part of the trailer, with McGregor as Fillion only shown in one scene. In that scene, Fillion was ordered by Kotch to "save a bullet" and to take out Reyes by his fists, which is fitting for a character portrayed by the UFC champion.
The first rumors of Harington joining the cast of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare surfaced in June, as a video showed that he was being wheeled into a motion capture rig for an unknown project. The setup was said to be almost identical to what is used for the Call of Duty franchise.
Previous trailers uploaded for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare were massively downvoted for various reasons. Early indications, however, show that this video will be breaking the trend, as at the time of writing, the story trailer has already received over 20,000 likes and only more than 4,000 dislikes.
