When Hitman developer IO Interactive’s James Bond game (working title Project 007) comes on the scene, will do so with a brand new James Bond, studio director Hakan Abrak told the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (h / t TheGamer).
Project 007 will follow James Bond in his early days as a British secret service agent and depict the events that led to him acquiring the iconic 007 codename. This ‘completely original’ origin story distinguishes the game from Bond’s most famous depictions on the silver screen, in which he is already an established MI6 operator, so the development of a new leading man makes sense, especially if you’ve the franchise’s all too faint factor calculating ratio with continuity.
James Bond first appeared on film in 1962s Dr. no, portrayed by Sean Connery. Since then, several actors have taken up the mantle, including George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and most recently Daniel Craig. A popular theory why the character has the potential to look so different from movie to movie is that “James Bond”, like 007 himself, is a code name, used by various agents throughout history, whether or not with the upcoming match can run.
Either way, IO Interactive obviously hopes a lot for it Project 007. The studio opened a second office last year in Malmö, Sweden, and reportedly doubled its total staff from 200 to a workforce of more than 400. Abrak also indicated that IDE may already be laying the groundwork for a James Bond trilogy now this Hitman‘s “World of Assassination” trilogy is complete. But as the first game is still a long way off, future plans have yet to be seen.