IO Interactive's 007 First Light is introducing a new version of the character, and it seems we'll get a glimpse at something exceptionally rare within the long-running spy franchise: James Bond before he became 007. Despite seven distinct iterations of the character spanning Ian Fleming's written works and the six actors who have starred in Eon Productions' series since the 1960s (not to mention the 007 of later, non-Fleming novels and screen appearances not under the purview of Eon), Bond is almost uniformly portrayed as an experienced, suave 00 Agent. 2006's Casino Royale is, so far, the only exception, albeit for only about three minutes.

In Fleming's fictional version of MI6, the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service, a 00 Agent is an elite class of field operative granted a license to kill, should it be required, per their discretion. The route to attaining 00 status is never thoroughly explained, either by Fleming nor the films, but an important prerequisite is that the agent must have killed someone in cold blood while on assignment. 007 First Light will tread almost unbroken ground by apparently depicting Bond before he's been itted to the 00 program, at least briefly.

007 First Light Seems Like It Will Begin With James Bond Earning His License To Kill

We'll See What Happened In Iceland

007 First Light's reveal trailer had a classic James Bond scene – his superiors talking about him while he's not in the room. The discussion appears to be between M and another high-ranking MI6 official named Greenway, and it revolves around Bond's suitability for the 00 program and untold antics that occurred, apparently recently, in Iceland. Interspersed with the office scene are a few brief shots of said mission in Iceland: flares falling from the sky, a balaclava-clad henchman getting beat up, and a silhouette emerging from the water among flames.

The silhouette is implied to be Bond, whose performance is characterized after the fact as "insubordination; it was ill-disciplined, utterly reckless – he only survived thanks to blind luck." Yup, sounds like Bond. But while this is largely speculation, it seems incredibly likely that this mission in Iceland is 007 First Light's intro mission. In other words, 007 First Light may give us a look at MI6 agent James Bond before he's designated 007. This is surprisingly uncommon for a franchise that's been around so long.

The Last & Maybe Only Time We Saw Pre-007 James Bond Was In Casino Royale

Daniel Craig's Iconic Introduction As Bond

Casino Royale had a tall task on its plate: bring the franchise back from the silliness that had seeped into the later films of the Pierce Brosnan era, which had been lampooned thoroughly by Austin Powers. Daniel Craig's debut not only set a compelling new tone, it immediately became one of the best Bond films ever produced, and it starts with a flash of brilliance, something never seen on the big screen before: James Bond earning 00 status.

In extremely harsh black and white, Craig's Bond is seen in Prague addressing a leak in the Secret Intelligence Service, assassinating a "bent" MI6 section chief named Dryden interspersed – not unlike the 007 First Light trailer – with shockingly violent flashbacks of Bond also eliminating the turncoat's informant. Dryden insults Bond, saying he's shocked M didn't send a 00, noting Bond's file doesn't contain a single recorded kill.

The conversation between Dryden and Bond establishes Casino Royale's prerequisite number of killings to earn 00 status: two. The flashbacks show the first, a brutal brawl in a bathroom between Bond and Dryden's , which ends in Casino Royale's tradition-breaking gun barrel shot. The second is Dryden himself. The next time we see Bond is in the Uganda sequence, following the intro credits with Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name." At this point, Casino Royale has switched to color, implying Bond has officially become 007.

Casino Royale's intro is a major departure from the novel of the same name, Fleming's first. The novel has no depiction of Bond attaining 007 status, and the black-and-white scenes from the film are an anomaly among the Eon films. Up until Casino Royale in 2006, Bond was almost singularly portrayed as the competent spy he's famous for being.

20 Years Later, We're Getting Another Version Of 007's Origin

007 First Light Releases In 2026

With 007 First Light scheduled for release in 2026, it will be 20 years since the last Bond was introduced, and it seems Casino Royale may have set a new precedent. Even the first Eon film, Dr. No, starring Sean Connery, didn't provide much background on Bond. It's almost like 007 was always 007, even though various films would make ing mention of Bond's past, or loosely connect the plot to that of previous installments.

007 First Light, however, goes even further than Casino Royale, implementing Bond's tragic childhood tale of Fleming's invention, wherein 11-year-old Bond's parents are killed in a ski accident. The Craig films adopted this background as well, but this particular incident wasn't discussed until Skyfall. A three-inch scar on Bond's face also shows that IO Interactive is taking significant cues from Fleming's writing, and not just the wildly popular film franchise.

A major departure being made by 007 First Light, though, is making its Bond only 26 years old. While the Casino Royale film doesn't explicitly mention Bond's age, Craig was 38 at the time. This roughly matches Fleming's portrayal of Bond, who is in his mid to late thirties in most of the novels. With this in mind, alongside the snarky tone of the 007 First Light trailer, it seems we may get a James Bond even more brazen than that seen in the intro of Casino Royale, but first we're going to see him before he was known as 007.

Source: PlayStation/YouTube