How 007 First Light can learn lessons from James Bond novels and films to tackle the hero's origins

Since Casino Royale’s publication in 1953, there has been no shortage of content in the James Bond universe. In addition to Ian Fleming’s 13 novels and 25 official films, there have been over 40 continuation novels set both within the original novel timeframe of the 50s and 60s and in the present day, offering differing takes on the character’s origins.

IO Interactive’s 007 First Light tells a fresh origin story for the character in video game format and, refreshingly, offers a take on the character that is away from the film versions.

With this new origin story for the most famous of secret agents, let’s look at how the original Fleming series, continuation novels and of course the 60+ year old film series, have approached 007’s beginnings...

On the film front, surprisingly little is revealed about Bond’s origins until Daniel Craig's five films between 2006 and 2021. Casino Royale was the closest the series has come to a full reboot, offering a 007 who had just earned his licence to kill, showing us brief glimpses of his required two kills. This is a film without Miss Moneypenny, Q and an army of gadgets.

This Bond was in every sense a blunt instrument, more vulnerable than he had ever been on film before. While familiar tropes crept in with each passing instalment, particularly 2012’s Skyfall, that film did bring Bond’s origins to the heart of the plot. The finale’s action took place at the titular estate in the Highlands with brief references to his familial roots.

Director Sam Mendes also placed Bond’s childhood at the centre of Spectre, with the controversial decision to make his arch-nemesis Blofeld Bond’s adopted brother. The two Mendes instalments are the first time Bond’s childhood is explored in meaningful detail on screen, and while not a lot is revealed, it is still a noteworthy decision.

Speaking of Bond’s childhood, The Fast Show’s Charlie Higson wrote the hugely successful Young Bond series between 2005 and 2009, starting with SilverFin. The series was subsequently continued by Stephen Cole until 2017.

Higson’s novels start with a 13-year-old Bond at Eton, and, of course, danger is never far away. We follow a series of escapades and his initial brushes with British intelligence, both at home and abroad.

Higson draws on some of Fleming’s own backstory, particularly featured in You Only Live Twice and the character’s fictional obituary. The third novel in the series, Double or Die, features a brief, tantalising jump forward to an adult-aged Bond in his early days as a fully fledged spy in the war years.

Even though aimed at a younger audience, the hallmarks of the Bond franchise are evident, this is the closest any entry in the franchise has come to looking at a more human side of the character, prior to his military and intelligence career. Higson returns this year with a full Bond novel, but whether this will examine his roots in more detail remains to be seen.

Surprisingly, given the number of continuation books, Anthony Horowitz’s Forever and a Day, his second of three Bond novels, is the first to officially explore the character’s work pre Casino Royale.

Horowitz offers a brief explanation for the creation of the 00 programme and shows Bond meeting M for the first time and a bit more about his two kills, one involving a Japanese gangster at the Rockefeller Center and another undercover in Sweden. The bulk of the book takes place on the French Riviera.

Even though he is not yet the spy we first encounter in Casino Royale, this Bond already has a love for fast cars and women. He is a little rough around the edges, and while capable, stumbles into plenty of scrapes he luckily escapes from; he is perhaps not as assured and ruthless as the 00 he would become.

Other continuation novels have hinted at Bond’s pre-007 years, with William Boyd’s 2013 novel Solo skirting the war years and the effects they had on a late 60s Bond, jaded from years of service for his country.

Jeffery Deaver created a new origin for the character in his 2011 novel Carte Blanche. Set in the present day, it saw Bond born in 1979, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, rather than the Second World War. Even with an updated origin, this novel still has many familiar faces from M to Moneypenny and Bond’s CIA ally Felix Leiter.

The Bond game series — which is perhaps best known, up until this point, for the legendary GoldenEye N64 game — has largely forsaken any glimpse at Bond’s early years, choosing either to directly adapt the films or tell an original story like Daniel Craig-led Blood Stone.

First Light is the first game to really stand apart from the main film series, and the avenues for a fresh approach from the Hitman developers, IO Interactive, have filled fans with optimism. While M, Q and Moneypenny are present, this is a Bond far younger than we’ve seen at any point in the films, being just 26 as he embarks on the mission to earn his licence to kill and become a 00.

The novels and films show us that there is no one way to approach Bond’s origins. A plethora of authors, directors and now video game developers have taken several different routes across different eras. Indeed, even after 70 years, there is still plenty to explore with the character and his origins in particular.

In the absence of a new actor in the film role, First Light offers an alternate take that, if successful, will likely spawn sequels, with the developers planning it as the first in a trilogy. It promises a fresh origin that will hopefully successfully reboot the character for a new generation of gamers.

Read more:

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• James Bond: 007 First Light is "like a hand fitting into a glove" after making Hitman
• James Bond's 007 First Light release date delayed for Nintendo Switch 2 players
• 007 First Light's "younger and more reckless" James Bond isn't official canon

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