The actor who has played Hitman protagonist Agent 47, David Bateson, for over 20 years was very nearly replaced in Hitman: Absolution. Technically, he was replaced but after a big backlash the actor made a secretive return. The move was not dissimilar from when David Hayter was replaced in Metal Gear Solid V along with Michael Ironside in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, two actors who made a name for themselves in their respective roles.

Bateson has played Agent 47 since the very first Hitman game and is one of those actors who has defined their role. The actor’s distinct voice provided a cold, emotionless tone to the assassin who is meant to be nothing more than a killing machine. As the games have gone on, he has added more subtle layers of characterization to Agent 47 with dark humor, a desire to understand his purpose, and more. Despite the Hitman games being far more focused on gameplay than anything else, Agent 47 is still a very realized character and part of that is thanks to David Bateson.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Bateson was almost replaced for good when it came time to do the fifth entry in the series, Hitman: Absolution. In a new interview with Elias Eliot, Bateson detailed how he found out he wasn’t originally meant to return to the role. Actor and cousin of Tom Cruise William Mapother had replaced Bateson without notice and he only found out after the game’s trailer debuted, leading to an awkward phone call with IO Interactive. After months of fan backlash leading to low pre-orders, IO secretly reached out to Bateson just 6 months prior to the game’s release and asked him to come back.

Bateson recounts that he had to sign an NDA before they told him that it was for Hitman and IO went behind publisher Square Enix’s back to re-record the entire game. “They wouldn’t admit it but maybe the game wasn’t selling as much as it should’ve. They had feedback about the voice, saying it doesn’t quite come across. So, they went behind the backs of their then-owner, Square Enix, and said ‘Listen, can we re-record the whole game in secret?’ I said ‘You’re never going to keep that secret.’ It was all super top-secret,” said Bateson. Once they finished, they showed it to Square Enix who believed Bateson was better than Mapother. The game does still feature Mapother in some way as he did all of the mo-cap work while Bateson just provided the voice.

Hitman: Absolution was generally well received by critics but still caught some flack for focusing more on a linear, narrative-based experience rather than doubling down on the sandbox elements that its predecessor had perfected. This ultimately led to a soft-reboot of Hitman which spawned an acclaimed trilogy and proved IO Interactive to be a worthy talent to then take on the 007 IP.

See also  Everybody Who Plays A Real Person In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Source: Elias Eliot

Warzone (Season 2): Best TAR-21 Loadout

About The Author


Cade Onder
(926 Articles Published)

Cade Onder is a 20-year old video game, movie, and chicken tender enthusiast. He has been writing about games since he was 14 and is always trying to learn more about the gaming industry. You can follow him on Twitter @Cade_Onder for bad jokes, bad takes, and pictures of chicken tenders.

More From Cade Onder