Big news for “Diablo II” fans: the Blizzard Entertainment game is getting its first major update in 25 years.
Titled “Reign of the Warlock,” the DLC will feature actor Rahul Kohli (“The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass,” “iZombie”) starring as the voice of the titular Warlock. Per Blizzard, “the Warlock is disciplined, ominous, and incredibly knowledgeable, lingering in the shadows for years and studying secrets mortals shouldn’t know.”
In addition to debuting in the new update for “Diablo II: Resurrected” (which is the remastered version of the original “Diablo II”), the Warlock class will arrive in the upcoming “Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred” update in April and the mobile title “Diablo Immortal” this summer.
These announcements were made by Blizzard Entertainment on Wednesday as part of a showcase teasing multiple ways the Microsoft-owned “Diablo” franchise will be marking its 30th anniversary this year leading up to more reveals at BlizzCon in September.
“Reign of the Warlock” launches Wednesday in “Diablo II: Resurrected” across Battle.net, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. “Diablo Immortal’s” Warlock-focused update, “Andariel Rises,” will debut this summer.
The “Diablo IV” update “Lord of Hatred” arrives April 28 on Battle.net, PlayStation, Xbox and Steam, and more information about how the Warlock will be worked into that DLC will be revealed in a developer update event on March 5 at 11 a.m. PT.
“This actually just came out of the blue,” Kohli told Variety in an interview ahead of the official announcement. “I received a text message from Rod Fergusson, who said, ‘Do you not want to do Diablo?’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he was like, ‘We haven’t heard back.’ I went to my team and I was like, ‘What’s going on? Diablo?’ And they basically forwarded this offer, and in the email heading it said ‘Diablo II,’ which I thought was a typo, an error. It’s probably ‘Diablo IV’ they mean.”
Kohli continued: “Because I also had worked with Rod previously on ‘Gears of War,’ I sort of assumed at some point ‘Diablo IV’ would come knocking, and it never did. So I sort of resented him for that. And then when that came through, and it was ‘Diablo II,’ obviously, I thought it was a typo. But then once I looked through the character profile, I realized, ‘Oh, this is new content for a game that came out in the year 2000.’ Obviously, it’s for the remaster, but it’s still new content for a 26-year-old game. So I was very hyped.”
Watch the “Diablo” franchise’s cinematic trailer introducing Kohli’s Warlock character in the video below.