Splinter Cell star Sam Fisher is coming out of retirement to be the next Rainbow Six: Siege playable character.
Ubisoft revealed Fisher's upcoming appearance as the operator known as "Zero" in a teaser trailer that opens with a close-up on what appears to be his iconic goggles. Turns out it's just some green LEDs on his gun, and he has a cool new jacket, but that's definitely Sam.
We even get to hear some voice lines that play up his gruff old soldier persona - "you should know better than to write me off" - though I'm pretty sure that isn't original Sam Fisher voice actor Michael Ironside. Ironside played Fisher when he had a cameo in a Ghost Recon: Wildlands update in 2018, though he didn't play the character in Splinter Cell: Blacklist in 2013.
Speaking of Blacklist, that's still the most recent standalone Splinter Cell game that Ubisoft has created. Since then, we've had a number of false starts and not-quite-teases about a Splinter Cell comeback. The most recent development was Sam Fisher's Italian voice actor confirming that a new Splinter Cell game was originally planned for 2020, but was delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another Ubisoft Forward event is planned for September, so we could always find out more then.
Ubisoft plans to give Sam Fisher his proper Rainbow Six: Siege operator debut during the NA-Mini Major Finals on August 16, on the game's official Twitch account.
Sam Fisher will also appear in Tom Clancy's Elite Squad, a mobile RPG that lets you recruit agents from across Ubisoft's Clancyverse.