“You Not Only Represented Us, but You Represented Us With Swagger”: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2’s Main Lead Alain Mesa Talks About the Importance of Race Representation

The Call of Duty franchise is one of the most acclaimed and popular brands in the world. Through decades of its presence, the brand has amassed a massive player base across the globe. Thus, the games released as its subsidiaries always have a massive limelight. Each of their actions is quite impactful as well.

The casting of Alain Mesa into Modern Warfare 2 was one important step that the COD franchise made. Not only they roped in a talented artist but also it was a monumental move concerning representation. The actor himself, at the BAFTA Awards, talked about this representation and its importance.

Call of Duty’s first Latino Protagonist

The COD franchise has given us many prominent and memorable characters. But one that surely has created a lot of impact among the community was Alejandro Vargas. The character is widely acclaimed for his style and impact on the game.

Talking at the venue of the BAFTA Game Awards, Alain Mesa, the actor who portrayed Vargas, talked about the impact of the character in the gaming world.

“The best part is when I get people of color , when I get people who are Latino and say ‘yo you not only represented us, but you represented us with swagger,” stated Mesa. Him being cast as the protagonist in a massive AAA title sure was a monumental step taken by Call of Duty, and Mesa appreciates the franchise for making such a massive step.

Alejandro Vargas is the first COD protagonist, who belongs to a foreign land, and this very aspect makes Modern Warfare 2 quite special in the eye of the world.

He added that there is more that can be done to increase the inclusion of various characters from different races in such games. This is one of the first impactful steps that has been taken in that regard. He appreciates the risk that was taken, but it sure was fruitful for the company.

The character was widely acclaimed and the actor got nominated for his impressive performance. According to Mesa, this portrayal of a Mexican character in MW II would push people from other countries to express their want for seeing more heterogeneity in the protagonist pool.

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Alain Mesa’s acting and the recognition he got for his role is surely a silver feather for the Latino community. Furthermore, his casting and the success it weaved likely would inspire many more developers and studios to explore race representation even more in their titles.

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We can hope that this is the beginning of something revolutionary in the gaming industry.