007 First Light, the next game from Hitman developer IO Interactive, is a new and original take on the iconic spy franchise. Since it's starting from the ground up with a younger, fresher James Bond, naturally he needs an equally compelling villain. Enter the Pirate King Bawma, leader of a massive black market arms hub known as Aleph, a fictional city in Mauritania. Played by musical legend Lenny Kravitz, Bawma is shaping up to be a formidable match for the charming MI6 agent. 

At The Game Awards 2025, Epic sat down once again with 007 First Light's Cinematic and Narrative Director Martin Emborg about casting Kravitz as Bawma and Dexter: Original Sin star Patrick Gibson as Bond, why they were a perfect fit for these roles, and how the team balanced existing characters from the 007 lore with brand new creations.
 

Larger than life

In some ways, Bawma is the opposite of 007 First Light’s Bond incarnation. This version of Bond has yet to earn his 00 status, and still has a long way to go before he becomes the suave and cunning spy we’d recognize from the movies. And as we’ve seen in previous trailers, Bond is only granted his famous “license to kill” when put in a life-threatening situation.

By comparison, Bawma is a ruthless arms dealer with a wealth of experience and connections. In the reveal trailer, he even lowers someone into a pit filled with alligators, looks down, and says, “Easy girls, plenty of meat for everyone.”

Still, the characters share more similarities than you might think. “In Aleph, Bawma is all-powerful. It’s literally his kingdom, and nothing happens in Aleph that he doesn’t know about,” says Emborg. “As king, he is ruthless, but he rules with love. Like Bond, he is a very charismatic and savvy character.” 

These were the qualities that ultimately led to casting Kravitz and Gibson.

“We knew that the character of Bawma needed to be larger than life. He's this really charismatic character that rules this city, his kingdom of Aleph, with charisma. He's tough as nails, but he's also this really charming guy,” says Emborg. “When Lenny Kravitz came on board, he was a huge component in shaping who he is. How does he behave? How does he conduct himself? So we designed the character with Lenny, and that was just great fun.”

Emborg says that Gibson, meanwhile, has a commanding presence and aura of seriousness—but his sense of humor still shines through loud and clear. “He has all those Bond traits of having the gravitas, wit, and charm naturally. He has this youthful energy to him, like he can't sit still,” Emborg explains. “We looked at a lot of great actors, and he just had an X factor.”

While it varies by adaptation, Bond is typically in his mid-to-late 30s, and sometimes even in his 40s. In 007 First Light, however, Bond is only 26 years old. This younger iteration of Bond is inexperienced but resourceful—and this allows players to grow alongside Bond as he becomes the established agent audiences are familiar with. 

“So even though the heart of the character very much is the Bond we know and love, [Gibson] makes him unlike any of the others,” says Emborg. “In terms of writing, our version definitely speaks more than older versions of the character. You spend much more time with him in a game like this, so you perhaps get to know him more.”

007 First Light takes existing supporting characters from the 007 universe, such as Q (played by Alastair Mackenzie) and Moneypenny (played by Kiera Lester) and puts its own spin on them. But IO Interactive has also created new original characters to make 007 First Light truly its own unique story. One such character is Selena Tan, played by The Eternals star Gemma Chan. She helps train new recruits at MI6’s Q branch—including Bond himself.

“What we try to build around Bond is a cast of characters that complement each other. In the case of Selena Tan, we kind of needed a charming and nerdy character to help out with high tech aspects of training young recruits,” says Emborg. “Gemma is a great actor, and getting to work with her is just a privilege. She brings a wonderful quirkiness to the character, and a particular nerdy charm that elevates the writing.”
 

A balancing act

One of the biggest differences between 007 First Light and Hitman is their approach to humor. Hitman has a very slapstick tone, with bits of levity often arising from players’ interactions with the environment around them. As Agent 47, you can drown people in toilets, push them out of a window, or drop something heavy on them. In 007 First Light, however, the humor comes from Bond himself or from conversations with allies, like in a traditional Hollywood blockbuster action movie. He quips his way through a relatively realistic world.

“Agent 47 is very quiet, and he doesn't speak much. He sneaks around and listens to people’s conversations. And I think here we have Bond, who speaks a lot more. He's very much front and center, and the world is a little more serious,” says Emborg.

The gameplay design philosophies around Hitman and 007 First Light are quite different too. The former is an infiltration sandbox, while the latter is an action adventure game. The key distinction is momentum. Agent 47 has all the time in the world to assassinate his targets, so long as he doesn’t get caught, but Bond is constantly in high-stakes missions, like a sequence where he has to fight inside a moving aircraft. Thrilling shootouts, car chases, and more take a page out of IO Interactive’s earlier works like Freedom Fighters and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

“There’s always a ticking clock for James Bond. Agent 47 is a very patient man, where Bond is always on the move,” he says. “Allowing the player to be creative and decide how they want to approach obstacles is still foundational, but I think that shift in modus was definitely an adjustment.”

As a completely new and original James Bond story, 007 First Light isn’t beholden to series canon in the way that other franchises are. Most Bond movies before Daniel Craig’s turn as the iconic agent were often separate stories unconnected to each other. They shared similar characters and recurring themes, but with each new James Bond actor, the series usually started fresh again. It’s an expectation that fans have grown accustomed to, and one that works in 007 First Light’s favor, letting IO Interactive create the experience and world that they envision.

“He’s someone who we've seen so many permutations of—and I do think there's a lot of freedom, and audiences are prepared for 007 First Light to be its own thing,” says Emborg. “I don't necessarily think that anyone is looking for it to be connected to anything else. It empowers us to deliver a better product that we don't connect to anything.”

Since 007 First Light stars the character’s youngest iteration so far, it’s only natural the game depicts Bond’s humble beginnings and how he earned his numbers. The title itself encapsulates that idea. “It's a young man that steps into this world of shadows. I think 007 First Light is just an interesting title that brings something to the world of espionage,” says Emborg. “[Bond] is a very iconic character. There are some perspectives on the title that I would love to talk with you about after you've played the game, but it's the dawn of this character that we all know and love.”

Over the years, the Bond movies and games have taken place in locales around the world, including Turkey, Jamaica, Japan, and many, many more. In 007 First Light, IO's confirmed that Bond will travel to Slovakia, England, and of course, Mauritania. As for the rest? The team currently wants to keep the other locations a secret, hoping to surprise fans with unexpected locales once 007 First Light releases.

“James Bond has always had globetrotting, taking the audience to exotic and intriguing locations on a luxurious and exciting vacation. But of course they also play a central part in the plots and schemes of the Bond villains,” says Emborg. “Deciding on locations is a mix of wanting variation and servicing what the story needs, while seeing if we can find something new to surprise and delight the player.”

IO Interactive working on a Bond game is one of those ideas that just make sense. Given the studio’s history with the Hitman series, the team is primed to channel its experience into delivering a truly original and blockbuster Bond game—one that’s not held down by any established canon, nor carries the usual licensed game stigma, which historically often came from rushing to tie into a corresponding show or movie.

“The game is a great ride, and anyone should expect a true Bond adventure,” says Emborg. “We’re giving the player all the agency to be Bond, and to be as creative and irreverent in their approach to the world as he is.”

Wishlist 007 First Light now on the Epic Games Store ahead of its May 27, 2026 release.