CoD Vanguard cast: Dominic Monaghan on “deeply insecure, paranoid” role

By Rob Leane

Published: Friday, 05 November 2021 at 12:00 am

The Call of Duty: Vanguard cast includes several notable actors – Laura Bailey is certainly famous among gamers (not least for playing Abby in The Last of Us Part II), and the new CoD game also features The Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan in a key villainous role!

Monaghan, who plays a Nazi officer named Jannick Richter in the WW2-themed Vanguard, is best known for playing Merry Brandybuck in the LotR films. But he is also highly recognisable for his turns in Lost (he played Charlie) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (he played a lightbulb-loving mutant named Bolt).

And unless you blinked and missed it, you might’ve seen Monaghan in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, where he played a background member of the Resistance named Beaumont. But it’s certainly a surprise to see Monaghan pop up in CoD Vanguard! Read on to hear what he said about joining the franchise.

Call of Duty Vanguard cast: actor Dominic Monaghan on his villainous role

"Dominic
Dominic Monaghan (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images, SD)

“Modern Warfare was my first foray into the world and I played a lot of multiplayer and really enjoyed it,” Monaghan revealed in an interview with ComingSoon.net. “And then from there, obviously, I always had my eyes on the Call of Duty franchise as it came and went. I played Black Ops, which I really enjoyed. I played some of the zombie modes. So yeah, it’s a monster of a game. It’s a monster of a franchise.”

Monaghan went on to describe his character, Jannick Richter, as “a deeply insecure, paranoid man who I think would probably have been picked on and bullied in certain other kind of army careers, but he finds himself as a kind of well-to-do officer. And he’s very keen to keep that position.

“He’s obviously a bit of a sadist. He enjoys torturing people and hurting people and probably does that because he is, in his own way, scared and insecure about his position. It’s fun to play someone that I would hate and someone that is wicked and nasty because it’s simple. His motivations are very base. He wants to hurt people. He enjoys committing harm on people and being mean and nasty. And it’s kind of fun.”

Monaghan also noted that players meet Jannick at “a really interesting point in his life and a really interesting point in the history of the Nazis in the second World War. I think he’s under the impression when the game starts that they’re not too far away from winning the war. And then as the game goes on, they obviously receive different information about where they might be in the story of the second World War.”

Who else in the Call of Duty Vanguard cast?

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Laura Bailey plays Polina Petrova in the Call of Duty Vanguard cast.
Activision

If you’re wondering who else can be seen/heard in CoD Vanguard’s story-driven campaign, you can check out the full Call of Duty: Vanguard cast list right here:

  • Dominic Monaghan as Jannick Richter
  • Laura Bailey as Polina Petrova
  • Chiké Okonkwo as Arthur Kingsley
  • Martin Copping as Lucas Riggs
  • Derek Phillips as Wade Jackson
  • Ron Bottitta as Butcher
  • Steven Brand as Henry Baker
  • Max Deacon as Tommy Jones
  • Nikolai Nikolaeff as Des
  • Ray Proscia as Steiner
  • Christopher Rivas as Mateo

Dominic Monaghan is certainly the most famous person in the Call of Duty: Vanguard cast. But as we mentioned up top, the game also includes a member of video game acting royalty in the form of Laura Bailey – as well as playing Abby in The Last of Us Part 2, she also voices Black Widow in a variety of Marvel projects (including Marvel’s Avengers game and Marvel Future Revolution).

Bailey, who plays a Ukrainian sniper named Polina Petrova in Vanguard, even showed up on the virtual stage at Gamescom 2021 to promote her work in the game. You can rewatch the clip, which also gave us our first look at the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign, right here: