- Actor Alastair Mackenzie says the scene in which his character Q teaches Bond how to tie a bow tie was a ‘key moment’
- He says it was “a very special little relationship moment”
- Mackenzie adds that stories like that of 007 First Light It’s all about “humanity”
The actors behind 007 First LightThe supporting cast revealed the most memorable moments between their characters and James Bond.
In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at an event adjacent to Summer Game Fest 2026, the cast of IO Interactive’s Bond game, including Alastair Mackenzie, Priyanga Burford, Lennie James and Noémie Nakai, sat down to discuss the filming process and how they brought their characters to life.
First light is a cinematic action-adventure game and a prequel origin story for Bond, so there are plenty of moments where he interacts and develops his relationships with the cast.
Mackenzie, who plays Q, remembers the scene in Vietnam where Bond struggles to tie his own bow tie before leaving on a mission, and Q helps him in an almost fatherly way. It’s a lovely moment, and one the actor himself found most memorable.
“I had to teach him how to tie a bow tie, which, I mean, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but it’s impossible,” Mackenzie said. “It’s a really cool moment between Bond and Q, where he presents him with his tie, and he doesn’t know what to do, so he teaches him how to tie [it]. So that was a little key for me; It’s a very, very small moment of special relationship.”
Burford, who plays M, also spoke of a “beautiful” moment with his reluctant allies Bond and John Greenway early in the story that demonstrated Bond’s character development.
“For me, there was one [scene] where Bond is really angry with Greenway, and he wants to stop everything and get it over with,” she said. “And there’s a beautiful part where it’s sort of about teaching someone how to manage their emotions and how to regulate and get out of an emotional state like a young person might; someone impulsive who gives in to their anger and looks at the situation in a slightly broader perspective.
“Instead of getting angry, what can this guy teach you? What do you want them to choose and try to think about it that way. And that, to me, was a good clue to what that dynamic was, and [what] M’s approach was.”
Mackenzie added that these stories are all about “humanity” and that he says isn’t shown very often in games.
“It’s all the human interactions that make this game,” he said. “There’s a sort of visceral nature to it, where you connect on a human level, which I think doesn’t happen in every game, right? I mean, that’s not a normal thing in video game stories.”
007 First Light is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is expected to launch later this year.
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