IO Interactive's 007 First Light reframes James Bond as a 26-year-old recruit clawing his way into the Double 0 program, and the studio stacked the cast to match. Patrick Gibson headlines as a younger, rougher Bond, surrounded by a mix of British screen veterans, a Grammy-winning musician, and a few performers making their first big leap into video games.
Quick answer: Patrick Gibson voices James Bond, with Priyanga Burford as M, Alastair Mackenzie as Q, Kiera Lester as Moneypenny, Lennie James as John Greenway, Noémie Nakai as Ms. Roth, Gemma Chan as Dr. Selina Tan, and Lenny Kravitz as Bawma.
007 First Light main cast at a glance
The core ensemble was rolled out across 2025 reveals, with Gemma Chan and Lenny Kravitz added later as voice-and-likeness and special guest performers. Adrian Townsend directed the voice work, with Side UK handling voice production.
| Character | Actor | Role in the story |
|---|---|---|
| James Bond | Patrick Gibson | 26-year-old MI6 recruit, voice and likeness |
| M | Priyanga Burford | Head of MI6 |
| Q | Alastair Mackenzie | Head of Q Branch, gadgets and R&D |
| Miss Moneypenny | Kiera Lester | MI6 intelligence officer and hacker |
| John Greenway | Lennie James | Bond's reluctant mentor |
| Ms. Roth (Charlotte Roth / Isola) | Noémie Nakai | Freelance spy, voice and likeness |
| Dr. Selina Tan | Gemma Chan | MI6 Head of Tactical Simulation, voice and likeness |
| Bawma | Lenny Kravitz | Arms dealer in Mauritania |
| Theresa Lorca | Raquel Cipriano | Portuguese geneticist |
| Cressida Bright | Jessica Rhodes | Double 0 recruiter at MI6 |
| Lennox Monroe | Chris O'Reilly | Double 0 recruiter, ex-Royal Marine |
| Sir Nicholas Webb | Anthony Howell | CEO of Webb Industries |
| Damien Webb | Bart Edwards | Son of Sir Nicholas Webb |
Patrick Gibson as James Bond
Gibson plays a pre-007 Bond who is brilliant, undisciplined, and very much not the polished agent of the films. The setup leans into that gap: after a heroic act as a young Naval air crewman, Bond gets pulled into the revived Double 0 program, only for a mission to go badly enough that he has to work with his mentor Greenway to untangle a wider conspiracy.
Gibson is best known for playing a young Dexter Morgan in Dexter: Original Sin, plus leading turns in Shadow and Bone, The OA, and The Tudors. He also appeared in the 2019 J.R.R. Tolkien biopic Tolkien. 007 First Light is his first major video game role, and he provides both the voice and the in-game likeness for Bond.
Priyanga Burford as M
Burford's M is pragmatic, morally grounded, and notably willing to bet on a recruit nobody else wants. She's also the rare actor with a foothold in both Bond canons, having played an MI6 scientist in No Time to Die before stepping into the head-of-service chair here.
Her TV credits include Industry, Steeltown Murders, Before We Die, Avenue 5, Housebound, and Press, where she's typically cast in roles that lean on quiet authority. That same register carries the early in-game line about Bond being "a bullet without a target."
Alastair Mackenzie as Q
Mackenzie voices Q, who runs Q Branch and supplies the gadgets that keep Bond alive when his instincts overcommit. The casting is a notable shift from recent films, since Mackenzie is meaningfully older than Gibson, putting Q in a more experienced advisory position rather than a peer role.
The Scottish actor is recognizable from Monarch of the Glen, The Crown, Dracula, Unforgotten, Outlaw King, and as Perrin Fertha in Andor. He also features in Black Mirror and Backdraft 2.
Kiera Lester as Miss Moneypenny
Lester plays an early-career Moneypenny written as a gifted hacker and the closest thing Bond has to a level-headed conscience inside MI6. It's one of the biggest roles to date for an actor whose TV work includes Sister Boniface Mysteries, Wreck, Ruby Speaking, Grace, Maigret, and Death in Paradise.
Lester also appears in the second Beyond the Light developer diary alongside Mackenzie, discussing how Moneypenny and Q were reinterpreted for a younger Bond era closer to Ian Fleming's novels than the film series.
Lennie James as John Greenway
Greenway is Bond's mentor, a former agent who is openly skeptical of his student and just as openly stuck with him. The character anchors much of the early story, including the framing scene where M overrules Greenway's objections and pushes Bond into the program anyway.
James is best known as Morgan Jones across The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, with film credits including Blade Runner 2049 and Mufasa: The Lion King, plus TV work on Human Target, Jericho, and Invincible. Destiny players will also recognize him as the voice of Lord Shaxx.
Noémie Nakai as Ms. Roth
Nakai plays Charlotte Roth, also known as Isola, a freelance spy positioned as the game's femme fatale. She provides both the voice and the likeness, and her scenes lean into the cat-and-mouse dynamic that Bond stories tend to build around this archetype.
The French-Japanese actor previously appeared in HBO's Tokyo Vice, Zack Snyder's Army of Thieves, Never Let Me Go, The Emperor's Cook, and Death Note: New Generation.
Gemma Chan as Dr. Selina Tan
Chan voices Dr. Selina Tan, MI6's Head of Tactical Simulation, who runs the TacSim training challenges Bond has to clear on his way to 00 status. She's written as an academic with a background in psychology and game theory, and she plays a direct role in deciding whether Bond earns his number at all.
Chan provides both voice and likeness, a first for a celebrity in a Bond video game. Her screen credits include Humans, Crazy Rich Asians, Captain Marvel, Eternals, and Transformers: The Last Knight, and she previously voiced Hunter Erys in Diablo IV.
Lenny Kravitz as Bawma
Kravitz makes his video game debut as Bawma, an unpredictable arms dealer operating out of Mauritania whose business pulls Bond into one of the game's more volatile arcs. He's the special-guest piece of the cast, revealed later in the marketing cycle than the core ensemble.
Outside music, Kravitz has acted in The Hunger Games series, The Butler, and Precious.
Supporting characters and voice actors
Beyond the headline MI6 staff, the supporting cast fills out the mission locations, the recruitment pipeline, and the corporate side of the story.
| Actor | Character | Notable credits |
|---|---|---|
| Raquel Cipriano | Theresa Lorca, geneticist working on CO2-absorbing algae | Maternidade, The Wheel of Time, A Teacher's Gift |
| Jessica Rhodes | Cressida Bright, Double 0 recruiter and daughter of the Foreign Secretary | Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree (St. Trina), Casualty, Artemis Fowl |
| Chris O'Reilly | Lennox Monroe, Double 0 recruiter and ex-Royal Marine | Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga, Lords of the Fallen, Resident Evil Requiem |
| Anthony Howell | Sir Nicholas Webb, CEO of Webb Industries | Elden Ring (Margit/Morgott), Alien: Isolation (Samuels), Final Fantasy XVI |
| Bart Edwards | Damien Webb, son of Sir Nicholas | The Witcher, UnREAL, State of Happiness, Peep Show |
IMDb also lists Branko Tomovic in the cast, along with smaller credits including Raman Kribi as Marcus Singh, Nicholas Prasad, Peter Svatik, and Lorraine Tai in additional NPC roles.
Cameos from streamers, musicians, and influencers
007 First Light slots a handful of real-world personalities into background roles across its mission locations. They're not credited as major characters, but they're recognizable on sight.
| Cameo | Where they appear |
|---|---|
| Khaby Lame | Guest at the Vietnam resort, complete with his signature shrug |
| Jacksepticeye (Seán McLoughlin) | Clerk at a London nightclub |
| Shroud (Michael Grzesiek) | Spectator at a Mauritania fight club |
| Dimitri Vegas | DJ in Mauritania |
| Chase and Status | DJ duo at the London nightclub |
Who plays 009?
009 is the central antagonist, a former MI6 agent gone rogue whom Bond and Greenway are sent to track. Their casting has not been announced, and the character's full identity is held back as a plot beat rather than a marketing reveal.
Behind the camera
007 First Light is developed by IO Interactive, with Hakan Abrak and Martin Emborg credited as directors and writing credits shared between Ian Fleming, Nick Price, and Michael Vogt. Emborg, the studio's Narrative and Cinematics Director, has framed the project as leaning closer to Fleming's novels than to the film continuity, which is reflected in younger takes on M, Q, and Moneypenny and in the original characters built around them.
The title song, First Light, is written and composed by Lana Del Rey and David Arnold, performed by Del Rey, and produced by Del Rey, Arnold, and Dean Reid. Amazon MGM Studios, and Eon Productions are attached as production companies alongside IO Interactive, and the game is set for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Switch 2.