While many have been noting that the younger James Bond portrayed by Irish actor Patrick Gibson in IO Interactive’s 007: First Light might seem a bit smug, the studio has said that this was an intentional choice. Speaking to Eurogamer, senior combat designer Tom Marcham said that it’s a good thing that James Bond fans seem to have many opinions about how the character is portrayed.
He even went as far as to call it a great thing, since discussions about a new actor being cast for the role of Bond always lead to discussions all over the UK.
“People having differing opinions about a James Bond: that’s great,” said Marcham. “Everyone has their favorite Bond. If we made a Bond where no one had any opinions on them, it would be the dullest Bond ever made. So the fact that we’ve got a little controversy on that, I think it’s a good thing.”
“I think every time a new James Bond is cast, it’s talked about in every part of Britain, so let’s have it happen to us, let’s have people discuss it. I’m curious to see… One of the things I really like about Paddy’s performance of Bond is how much he grows on you throughout the game as well. So it’d be interesting to see what people think when they actually play through it.”
Going into more detail about why Gibson’s Bond looks so smug, narrative and cinematic director Martin Emborg has said that he has “an unearned confidence” that’s intentionally visible on his face. “[Bond’s] like, ‘Yeah I can do whatever,’ so he’s a reckless young man. This guy hasn’t seen death in the way that an older Bond has,” he explained. “When you’re a young man, you feel immortal […] and he’ll definitely learn that he’s not.”
Noting that many people’s interpretations of Bond’s personalities come from movies where he tends to be older, Emborg said, “But this is another take. This is a young man that isn’t all those things yet, and so there is maybe a little more on the line for this guy than your seasoned Bond.”
“We do have a strong character, and I will say he is as strong as those other Bonds,” he continued. “In terms of the audience putting themselves into this strong character: it does help us that it’s an origin story. We’re starting with him and that’s a great entry point for the audience for sure. But he’s his own man. It’s not like he’s a vanilla person. He has strong impulses and opinions and ways of doing things.”
“Even when we meet him at the very beginning, before he has all this experience and before he’s been through all these things that will slowly mature him and take him towards being the seasoned 007 that we all know and love, he has those core qualities that he was born with, and it’s the reason that he’s able to become 007, and the reason that he blips on the on the radar for MI6 and gets pulled into that world.”
While he may appear smug, Marcham also said that people might see some of the character’s rage coming out, especially in stressful situations like combat encounters. However, these traits might not be immediately visible on Bond’s face most of the time.
“This character’s got some rage in him,” he said. “It’s an interesting take. He’s an orphan […] and there’s an attitude that maybe he didn’t have the greatest time growing up. Maybe he’s been in some tough fights before, and he knows how to handle himself, and he’s got some inner rage that comes out every now and then.”
“But you might not necessarily see it when you just see a face-shot of our Bond,” he added. “And I think [Patrick Gibson has] done an incredible job, and he’s definitely someone that has so much charisma that the more time you spend with him, the more you like him.”
007: First Light is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on May 27th. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is also planned for release later in the Summer.
