Daniel Craig’s take on the character of James Bond has more or less defined the Bond franchise since the 2006 release of Casino Royale. Now that we’re getting a fresh take on Bond through Patrick Gibson playing the role in 007: First Light, this presents a chance for the actor as well as fans of the Bond franchise to see what a more modern James Bond would look like. In an interview with GamesRadar, Gibson spoke about this, as well as how he grew up with Craig playing the role.
Noting that preparing for the role of Bond involved Gibson going back to watch every film and read some of the older books that inspired the movie franchise, he said, “It felt like various iterations kind of highlight pre-existing characteristics, and are also kind of informed by the context of the time that they’re made in.”
“That was something that was interesting – they’re all like a different color of the same spectrum of something.”
Gibson also spoke about how Craig’s take on Bond, when compared to previous actors like Pierce Brosnan or Sean Connery, made the character seem like “the blunt force, brute instrument, bullet without a target kind of thing,” which he found appealing. “Each iteration kind of had its own thing,” he said, “but I think that’s kind of there in the source material.”
As for his own depiction of the character, Gibson said that the role “was really like finding how that plays in today’s context and with a more youthful version… and kind of finding what that felt and looked like.”
Fellow actor Lennie James—who plays James Bond’s mentor John Greenway in the game—had praised Gibson for his work in portraying the character. In an interview last month, he said that Gibson was “fantastic” as Bond, and that the movies should consider casting him.
“He’s fantastic in our version of Bond, and I genuinely think he should be a candidate for the main role that they’re trying to find someone for,” he said. “I’m sure he’s under consideration. The people in control would be mad not to consider him.”
As we get closer to the May 27th release date of 007: First Light on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, we’ve been starting to get quite a few details about the title and its lead character.
Since Gibson is playing a younger version of Bond in 007: First Light, there has also been a bit of controversy regarding the character looking “smug” in the promotional art and trailers released so far. Senior combat designer Tom Marcham said that this kind of response from an audience is a good thing.
“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.”
In the meantime, take a look at how we think 007: First Light has the potential to do for the Bond franchise what Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum did for the superhero. IO Interactive has also confirmed that a Nintendo Switch 2 version is in the works, slated for release in Summer.
