First look at next James Bond in the 007 franchise is released – with fans convinced they know who is playing the secret agent

Four years on from Daniel Craig’s hugely dramatic exit from the world of James Bond, a new actor is set to step into the frame as the world’s most famous spy – but not in the way that fans might expect.

Yesterday, Bond bosses at Amazon MGM Studios unveiled the first look at a new, younger version of 007 – in an officially endorsed video game prequel.

Entitled 007: First Light, it’s a completely fresh retelling of Bond’s origin story as a promising but rebellious Royal Navy air crewman who is recruited into MI6.

The breathless trailer, released yesterday, features intense car chases, explosive gun fights and brutal hand-to-hand combat straight out of the Daniel Craig flicks.

It bears all the hallmarks of his character: losing his parents at a young age, his roguish streak of insubordination, and his remarkable good luck.

There are British brands by the boatload, an endless repertoire of snappy one-liners and even the prerequisite Aston Martin – in this case, a V8 Vantage, as seen in The Living Daylights.

Fans are convinced the new virtual Bond – seen smirking as he stands on the ramp of a cargo plane, ready to make a parachute jump – is Patrick Gibson, the Irish actor best known as the star of prequel series Dexter: Original Sin. 

If confirmed, Gibson will be the second Irishman to be cast as Bond after Pierce Brosnan and the second youngest person after George Lazenby, who was cast at 29. 

Daniel Craig (seen here in Skyfall) bowed out of the James Bond series in explosive fashion four years ago

Fans of Patrick Gibson (pictured in Dexter: Original Sin) are convinced that he has been cast as the latest James Bond in the 007 franchise

But all is not quite as it seems in the world of international espionage – as this Bond is not destined for the silver screen

Familiar faces like M, Q and Moneypenny are set to appear – along with a new character, John Greenaway, a mentor figure played by Lennie James, best known for his role as Morgan in the Walking Dead. 

Producers have promised that gamers will use Bond’s wealth of gadgets and what they call his ‘unique set of skills in combat (and) relationships’ to guide him along the road to becoming a fully fledged secret agent.

IO Interactive – which produced the award-winning Hitman series of games – has promised that it will be true to the 007 spirit.

And the trailer features moments that wouldn’t be out of place in any Bond movie, including a scene in with 007 accidentally sets off a dirtbike-mounted flamethrower with his Omega watch.

While not in the teaser, the new Q will almost certainly tell him in true Desmond Llewelyn style: ‘Grow up, 007.’ 

Would-be mentor Greenaway is seen arguing with what appears to be this iteration of Bond’s M, an Asian woman, branding him as ‘always at odds with authority’.

An unspecified incident in Iceland as a Navy man was ‘ill-disciplined, utterly reckless… he only survived thanks to blind luck’, he says, as the scene cuts to Bond emerging from the flaming wreckage of a plane wreck in the sea.

‘Bond is a bullet without a target,’ M tells him, as the smirking spy, with a scar on his right cheek, is seen standing on the edge of a plane about to jump. 

She adds: ‘Let’s give him one.’

The trailer goes on to show Bond seemingly meeting Moneypenny, a young black woman with glasses, before taking on target practice and then sneaking into a museum, taking down guards.

It cuts to a ruined hotel room, as Bond quips to a stunned maid walking in: ‘Jet lag. Gets me every time.’ 

This is the new James Bond – appearing in video game 007: First Light as a young, roguish 26-year-old Royal Navy air crewman entering the world of spycraft

The game looks set to feature an all-star cast, including Walking Dead star Lennie James as John Greenaway, a mentor figure for Bond

The teaser trailer released yesterday shows Bond in hand-to-hand combat – with a Land Rover visible in the background

The full cast is yet to be announced – but appears to feature an Asian woman in the role of M, most recently played in the films by Ralph Fiennes

While not named, this young woman appears to be a new iteration of Bond’s long-suffering companion Moneypenny

The trailer teases the appearance of several 007 fixtures, including a new Q (pictured)

He’s seen racing through tropical islands on a speedboat, and disarming thugs as fireworks go off in the background – and ends on a cliffhanger as he and Greenaway are lowered towards a pit of hungry crocodiles.

Bond wisecracks: ‘I suppose this is another teachable moment?’ 

British brands are featured by the boatload, from a Land Rover Discovery in the background of a fight scene to a Triumph motorbike and at least two Aston Martins – suggesting the game will be just as enrobed in British heritage as the films.

There’s even a suggestion that, similar to Brosnan flick Goldeneye, a rogue 00 agent will be a villain.

While nobody has been officially confirmed as the actor playing Bond, fans of Patrick Gibson are convinced that it is him based on the spy’s likeness, mannerisms and voice.

‘Watching the trailer and knew the face looked familiar. After about a minute or so I screamed “DEXTER”,’ wrote one fan on Reddit.

‘The smirk gave it away,’ said another, while a third added: ‘It’s 100 per cent him, I was thinking the same thing. I am thinking they even are using him as the voice actor.’

MailOnline has contacted Gibson’s (non-secret) agent for comment.

Meanwhile, speculation continues to grow over who will be the next big-screen Bond, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson touted as a favourite among industry figures. 

The acquisition of the Bond franchise by Amazon earlier this year has also prompted a flurry of guesses as to where they might take the franchise next. 

Bond has been spoiled with video game adaptations since the 1980s, with early adaptations taking the form of shooting games or text adventures in which players typed in what they wanted the super-spy to do.

Bond is seen reaching for an Omega watch – which he accidentally uses to set off a flamethrower mounted on a Triumph motorbike in front of an unimpressed Q

Bond is also seen crashing through a fence in a yellow Aston Martin V8 Vantage during the high-octane teaser

James Bond has been a gaming star for years, with the 1997 Nintendo 64 adaptation of GoldenEye (with a virtual Pierce Brosnan pictured) acclaimed as one of the best games ever

Brosnan also appeared in James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, an original story that also starred Heidi Klum

Sean Connery lent his likeness to Bond for a 2000s gaming retelling of From Russia With Love

Daniel Craig appeared in three James Bond games, including original story 007: Blood Stone (pictured)

The most famous adaption was the 1997 Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye, a first-person shooter recapping the events of the film that has since been acclaimed as one of the best games ever made.

Interactive retellings of Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough followed, using soundalikes rather than the real stars.

But a big-budget original story 007: Everything or Nothing, saw Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench and John Cleese reprise their roles as Bond, M and Q – Brosnan and Cleese for the last time, after Die Another Day – alongside Heidi Klum and Willem Dafoe.

Sean Connery also returned to voice the spy in a videogame version of From Russia With Love – which even let players use the jetpack seen in Thunderball. 

Daniel Craig – a self-confessed gamer – lent his voice and likeness to an adaptation of Quantum of Solace and to James Bond 007: Blood Stone, an original story featuring his iteration of the spy.

But after 007 Legends, a ‘best of’ video game recreating moments from across the Bond movies, received a critical mauling the spy was put out to pasture.

IO Interactive is best known for the Hitman series, which casts players as a professional assassin sent around the world to take down powerful targets by any means necessary.

The firm even recruited Bond actor Sean Bean –  who played rogue spy 006 in GoldenEye – as an assassination target after he became an internet meme due to his reputation for always being killed off in movies and TV shows.

It may confirm the full cast of the Bond game during an online showcase event that starts at midnight UK time tonight. 

007: First Light is set for release in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and on PC. 

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