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3 secret connections between Daniel Craig's Bond and the new game 007 First Light
The resurrection will be playable.
Amazon / IOI
- Rob Leane
Published: Tuesday, 19 May 2026 at 9:30 am
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Daniel Craig’s James Bond may have perished at the end of No Time to Die, but his influence is still being felt in subtle ways in the new video game 007 First Light.
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Taking over in the iconic lead role, Irish actor Patrick Gibson is no stranger to Craig’s work on the big screen.
“Some of my earliest epic cinematic experiences were with Daniel Craig's Bond,” Gibson told Radio Times Gaming exclusively.
“When I started going to the movies, Craig was coming in, so it held a real personal place, which is a strange thing to then step into.”
In the build up to launch, we spoke to a number of the game’s developers, and the influence of Craig’s era came up a number of times. Here are three secret ways that the new game connects back to Craig.
The resurrection
Martin Emborg, narrative and cut-scene director on 007 First Light, had one particular Daniel Craig line in his mind during production of the game.
Emborg told us, “I think that where Craig left off, getting to do an origin story after that, is, of course, interesting and pretty cool. Craig has a line, I think it's Skyfall, where someone says, ‘Everybody needs a hobby. What's yours?’
“He's being asked what his hobby is, and he says, ‘Resurrection.’
“And I think that's so cool, and that's kind of been in the back of my head a little bit sometimes, though, obviously we're not associated with the films. We are doing our own thing.”
Nonetheless, with Bond on the record as saying that he enjoys some recreational resurrection, it is fun to think of First Light as the next reincarnation of the same talismanic character that Craig once embodied.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Danjaq, LLC and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc
The combat
Thomas Marcham, senior combat designer on the game, told us at IO Interactive’s Brighton office that his team “went right the way back” and looked at all the films to hone a combat style for their playable Bond.
“We have a lot of object-throwing in the game, which is stuff we took from movies like Thunderball. Even really early on, you see this idea of Bond using the environment quite a lot. He's always doing something creative, so as we watch all of them, that seems to be a through-line through all of the movies.
“Less so in the books, because the combat is less described in the books. But in all the movies, you see this creativity in combat and this improvisation, where, often you're not really sure if he had a plan walking into the space, but once the fight starts, it seems like he has a plan, and stuff turns up”.
While all the movies' fights were taken into account, Daniel Craig's tenure was a particular influence on the game’s combat segments.
Marcham said: “We look to the Daniel Craig era a lot because the fight scenes are just incredible, right? They do a lot of really nice choreographed stuff in there. So we lift a lot of that, and then we add a lot of our own style to it as well, because we need to make a new Bond, right?
In 007 First Light, Bond embarks on his first mission as an agent. IO Interactive
“He’s much younger and less experienced [in the game] than he's ever been before, and we need to show that in the fighting. So, while we do lift stuff from the Daniel Craig era, we also add a lot of stuff that's less military. So we add a lot of boxing and MMA inferences, stuff that you might have learned if you were just street fighting, for example.”
And is there a particular Daniel Craig fight scene that stuck in his mind? A moment that is fully indicative of his fighting style?
In Marcham’s words, “One of my favourite fight scenes is extremely brief. And it's in Skyfall, where he has a gun with one bullet. He wastes the one bullet, then somehow takes out five people.
“And I think that's the best kind of Bond style of fighting. It's something we tried to capture a lot in the game. It doesn't really matter if you've got a gun, it doesn't really matter if the odds are against you, so you have clever ways of turning it around. And that seems quintessentially Bond to us.”
The costumes
Emborg also told us about another Craig-era connection, telling us, “We also worked very closely with the costume designer from No Time To Die, Suttirat Anne Larlarb, who worked on the game with us.
“The experience of working with her, and the kind of questions she asked about character in order to design their outfits, costumes, was just eye-opening, and some of the greatest conversations about character I've had.
“It also really shows how underestimated that sort of thing is in games, maybe, where costumes are very often... there are amazing concept artists for sure... but when you're talking about something like Bond, it’s like, ‘How does a suit drape?' Like, ‘What's the cut of a jacket?’
“It’s something that you need an eye and an understanding for. And working with someone like Suttirat on a very high level. She's worked on, obviously, a bunch of other movies, as well. It was a great joy and elevated the game for sure.”
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Costumes in games aren't often spoken about, but Emborg insists, "It is storytelling, and so, his jacket... a great amount of energy and effort went into deciding that jacket. So, what does it say about him? We discussed a lot about him being like a young Bond, youth, but being a rebel. We looked at Rebel Without A Cause, you know, that red jacket.
“And then we talked a lot about, you know, there's a Navy heritage to it, as well, also in the material choice. So, you know, all those things come together, and while it's not like people are gonna like look up at the billboard and go like, 'Oh, that jacket tells me the entire thing', that's what builds the character at the end of the day.”
And did Larlarb share any behind the scenes stories from the No Time To Die film production? Emboar says, “Yeah. A little bit. There are some fun stories, for sure, that I'm sure I can't share.”
In true Bond fashion, those anecdotes must be classified. But it is interesting to know that this new game, despite rebooting Bond as a trainee agent with a new actor in the role, does have numerous ties back to the Daniel Craig era.
Will First Light be remembered as fondly as Craig’s years in the role? Only time will tell, but the developers are clearly confident. They’re already talking about sequels.
Read more:
- Next James Bond casting gets official update from Amazon as speculation reaches fever pitch
- 007 First Light preview: I spy a decent James Bond game, for once
007 First Light launches 27 May for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. You can order your copy now.
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Authors
Rob LeaneGaming Editor
Rob Leane is the Gaming Editor at Radio Times, overseeing our coverage of the biggest games on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, mobile and VR. Rob works across our website, social media accounts and video channels, as well as producing our weekly gaming newsletter. He has previously worked at Den of Geek, Stealth Optional and Dennis Publishing.
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