Ubisoft has confirmed that there's something new cooking in the world of Ghost Recon, and whatever it is will be revealed later this week. A rumor that began a few months ago picked up steam last week on the "official" Skell Technology website, in a promotion for an event called "Skellcon" that's scheduled to begin at 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET on May 9.
Ubisoft nailed that down to something slightly more specific (but still very vague) earlier today on Twitter.
Calling all Ghosts.Tune into the #GhostRecon World Premiere event May 9 at 11:30 am PT.❤️ this Tweet to watch the Official Announce Trailer on May 9! pic.twitter.com/n7emQ6M0p7May 6, 2019
The Skelltech website is "official" because Skell Technology doesn't actually exist: It's a tech company in the Tom Clancy game setting that makes a lot of the high-tech weapons and gear used by Ghost Recon, Fourth Echelon, and Rainbow. It also figures prominently in the new Ghost Recon Wildlands expansion Operation Oracle, in which a guy who really looks (and, I guess, sounds) like Jon Bernthal hooks up with the Ghost Recon team to recover a Skell engineer who's been captured by the Bolivian special operations unit Unidad.
Ubisoft hasn't offered any hints about what's coming in this big world premiere, nor, annoyingly, has it officially confirmed anywhere I've seen that this guy who is obviously Jon Bernthal is actually Jon Bernthal. So here's my baseless (but still pretty good, I think) working theory: The Ghost Recon angle is a bit of a misdirect, and the reveal will actually see Cole D. Walker—the maybe-Bernthal from Operation Oracle—transition from Ghost Team leader to (hold on to your hats) Splinter Cell.
Rumors of a new Splinter Cell are thin but persistent, and Bernthal's turn as The Punisher demonstrates that he'd be great in the role, if perhaps a bit noisier than his would-be predecessor. And as much as I hate to say it, Michael Ironside is not getting any younger. Replacing Ironside as Sam Fisher is clearly a dead end, but replacing Fisher entirely with a man of gravelly voice and violent impulses absolutely could.
So that's my bit of wild speculation for the day. We'll find out on May 9, which is just a few days away.
