How A New Game Could Decide Who Is The Next James Bond

IO Interactive’s new 007 game features a young James Bond, potentially indicating the casting direction for the next movie.

IO Interactive

Yesterday 007 First Lightthe latest James Bond video game, was released by developer IO Interactive. In light of much of the media coverage, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a new movie.

Not only has the game been covered by major mainstream print, online and broadcast news outlets all over the world, it has been widely billed as the latest instalment in the Bond franchise. There are a number of driving forces behind this excited exaggeration.

The first is a drought of Bond-related content as it has been five years since the release of the previous film in the series, No Time to Die. The movie was Daniel Craig’s last outing as the super spy and since then Bond’s world has been turned upside down.

The upheaval began in March 2022 when Amazon paid $8.5 billion for storied studio MGM giving it rights to the Bond movies. However, Amazon couldn’t freely develop future films as longtime stewards Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson remained in charge. So the tech titan had to shell out even more money and in February last year bought creative control from them for an estimated $1 billion, not the $20 million that was widely misreported as this article explained.

Cutting no corners, Dune director Denis Villeneuve was hired to helm the next Bond movie which is due to be released in 2028. In preparation for this, Amazon MGM Studios recently hired Nina Gold, the casting veteran who populated the world of Westeros in Game of Thrones and also worked on Netflix series The Crownas well as five films in the Star Wars franchise. Precisely two weeks ago, the search for Craig’s replacement got underway which, no doubt, also increased interest in the game.

Five years after Daniel Craig’s exit, there is still no new James Bond. (Photo by Greg Williams/Eon Productions via Getty Images)

Getty Images

“The search for the next James Bond is underway,” Amazon MGM Studios said in a statement. “While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.” The lack of further information only served to heighten the fervour from fans. It has been long in the making.

Ever since Craig announced in 2019 that he was hanging up his tuxedo, Hollywood has been abuzz about who would replace him. A glittering array of A Listers have been connected to the role including Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy, Tom Holland, Jacob Elordi and Aaron Taylor-Johnson who has been a bookies’ favorite since his supposedly secret 2022 screen tests at London’s Pinewood Studios in 2022.

Some of the more elderly megastars on this list have reportedly been ruled out due to Amazon’s desire for a younger actor to carry the franchise for the next 10 to 15 years. This has brought younger and much more inexperienced performers into the frame such as former model Henry Ashton, who only started acting in 2021, and stage actor Tom Francis who has only ever appeared in one minor television show and movie.

Tom Francis has been touted as a potential younger James Bond. (Photo by Theo Wargo/FilmMagic)

FilmMagic

This too has fueled interest in the game as its protagonist is played by 31 year-old Patrick Gibson. The Irish actor is probably most famous for taking the title role in 2024 Showtime prequel series Dexter: Original Sin. Gibson isn’t believed to be in the running to play Bond on the big screen but his performance could give a clue as to who takes up the mantle.

Gibson performed motion capture and provided his likeness for the title character. Although it’s not a photorealistic recreation of him, it clearly has his youthful looks and this is no accident as the game tells Bond’s origin story. Despite the fact that Gibson isn’t a famous face, the game has got global publicity and rightly so as it has earned an impressive score of 87 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic.

Patrick Gibson voices Bond in the game. (Photo by Francois G. Durand/WireImage)

WireImage

If its sales follow suit it would be a stark reminder to Amazon that Bond doesn’t need a well-known name to succeed, even in the face of a much more challenging environment for movie theaters than when Craig was hired 21 years ago.

It is hard to imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones or Mr. Bean without Rowan Atkinson but, fittingly for an expert in espionage, Bond comes in many guises. It is one of the few roles in Hollywood which is undoubtedly bigger than the actor who takes it on and Amazon seems set to make the most of this.