Call of Duty dropped a new trailer for Season 3 with the focus back on fan-favorite characters

Treyarch has released a fresh new trailer for the launch of Season 3 in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

The 45-second teaser trailer appeared on official Treyarch social media platforms and pivots attention back to Russell Adler, seen smoking a cigar. He takes a sit-rep call from Frank Woods while stationed at the Rogue Team Hideout on the outskirts of Avalon.

A table in front of Adler is riddled with bullet casings and weapons, an envelope with a sticky note with "For Adler" scrawled on it above a bloodied handprint, and a small television with a VCR.

Via the call, Woods explains that the items on the desk were on his doorstep after he was released from the hospital, but he was unable to determine their meaning. As the camera pans, Woods asks "Did he figure out the Pantheon silver bullet all the way back in '89". The camera continues to pan across a VHS tape on the desk is labeled with "J. Hudson 11/21/89."

"That old bastard was one step ahead all along," says Woods.

The return of Jason Hudson (kind of?)

Jason Hudson is canonically dead.

That clearly doesn't stop the character from continuing to affect the Black Ops storyline. Hudson, a special agent in the CIA, has either been present, heard from, or mentioned in every single Black Ops title except for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War—and even then he was added as a playable character in post-launch seasonal content.

Hudson was killed during the events of Black Ops 2 by series antagonist Raul Menendez, and his and Alex Mason's deaths have been confirmed as canon by Treyarch. The events surrounding Hudson and Mason's deaths are part of what led to Adler being forced to go rogue at the start of Black Ops 6.

It is likely that Hudson will once again be added as a playable character in Call of Duty: Warzone, as well as Black Ops 6, for Season 3. However, his pseudo "revival" will likely be in the form of flashback content that plays out in the intro cutscene for Warzone and Black Ops 6.

Ramping up the hype for Season 3

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3's launch was surprisingly delayed as Treyarch and the rest of the Call of Duty team continued to work on overall gameplay and anti-cheat efforts prior to the return of the original Warzone map, Verdansk.

With Season 3 now officially launching on April 3, efforts to drum up hype for Warzone and Verdansk's return are starting to kick in full force. The recent teaser trailer sets the stage for the Season's content. Sevati Dumas and her team of Rogues are absent from the latest trailer, despite having been the central focus for the last two seasons. Instead, the Call of Duty team appears to really be leaning more into well known, fan-favorite characters for the new season.

Treyarch has also teased that a new map, Shattered Veil, will drop for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's zombies mode with Season 3. Players can also expect new maps, operator bundles, weapons, and a new battle pass with the fresh content drop on April 3.