What is the next Call of Duty? Is 2023 game Modern Warfare 3, release date - and 2024 Gulf War CoD revealed

An actor who says his image is being used for a key role in next year's instalment of the Call of Duty franchise appears to have revealed the first plot information for the game, despite it not yet having been officially announced.

It's quite doubtful that we will hear anything official concerning 2024's Call of Duty in the near future; even this year's game still hasn't been officially revealed - though it has reportedly been shown off to a room full of NBA players.

But actor and musician Luke Charles Stafford recently shared a Facebook post in which he claimed Activision would use his likeness for "their next main character" in a Call of Duty game that would allegedly be released "next year." The story was first reported by Insider Gaming.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What did the actor say?

"Activision decided to adapt their next main character, 'Ratcliffe' for Call of Duty off my face/likeness, and I am elated," Stafford wrote. "To all of my college roommates back at Anderson University and those years in Smith Hall Playing Black Ops 2... Next year, we can beat the snot out of each other again, but I want to play as me."

Stafford's post included images and videos that appeared to show the actor in a rig for body scanning, with others showing him conversing with members of the production crew.

He also makes multiple references to Call of Duty in the videos, and even invites various members of the team to introduce themselves. One of the team members can be seen sporting a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II T-shirt, the most recent game in the series.

The videos and pictures will almost certainly be removed soon because Stafford's participation in Call of Duty is most likely subject to an NDA.

What do we know about Call of Duty 2024?

2024's edition of the long-running series of hugely popular military-themed first-person shooters is rumoured to be the next instalment in the Black Ops sub-series, and is being developed by Treyarch under the codename 'Cerberus' if leaks from February are to be believed.

Previous leaks have also suggested that 'Cerberus' will be released on last-generation platforms alongside current-gen consoles.

If the main protagonist is indeed set to be called 'Ratcliffe', Insider Gaming have speculated that the character could have been modelled after Major Peter Ratcliffe, a retired British Army officer who served for nearly 30 years as a member of the Parachute Regiment between 1970 and 1997.

Since Ratcliffe served in the Gulf War and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his bravery in battle, Stafford's post would line up with rumours that the next game will be a follow-up to Black Ops: Cold War, titled Black Ops: Gulf War.

In terms of this year's - 2023's - Call of Duty, that also has not yet been officially revealed, although it is thought it will be Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, developed by Sledgehammer Games and rumoured to be released on Friday 10 November.

Adding weight to these rumours is a recent wave of DMCA take down notices reported by leakers, that mention "leaked content from unreleased video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3." These DMCA notices appear to have come from a limited alpha play test known as "Hailström," according to COD News & Leaks on Twitter.