Hitman has had one hell of a decade. 2012 welcomed in Hitman: Absolution, a controversial midpoint of the franchise, while the newest Hitman trilogy was a rollercoaster in and of itself. But the bald assassin has persisted and is currently heading into the second year of Hitman 3 content. It’s been a tough road, but one that actors David Bateson and Jane Perry, the voice actors behind Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood, respectively, look back fondly on.
Absolving Past Mistakes
Bateson almost didn’t have as much to look back on, considering that he was initially recast for Hitman: Absolution. IO Interactive confirmed in 2011 that Agent 47 would be played by another actor and when footage from E3 2012 revealed more of William Mapother’s portrayal, fan disapproval started skyrocketing. The greasier rendition didn’t match the smooth, cold killer that Agent 47 had been for over a decade. After some petitions and boycotts, Square Enix eventually walked that back and rehired Bateson just a few months before the game was released, saying that “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Bateson’s account of the whole scenario was more complicated, as it was news to him that he wasn’t playing Agent 47. As the game was being shown at E3 that year, Bateson recalls his phone blowing up on the other side of the world in Denmark during that otherwise calm summer night. He finally got through to someone at IO Interactive as they were leaving Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and then was unceremoniously informed of the change in direction over the phone.
And when he was initially asked to come back, it was almost like accepting a job as Agent 47 himself. He recorded his lines in secret with IO; not even Square Enix knew. He’d walk into the building with “codes on the doors” and have to skirt around people who’d start to question why he was there. Even though he said recording his lines within a month was intense, he said he rather liked this different experience.
“When they made this decision that they wanted to try and convince the owners that they should go back to the bald guy, it was all very hush hush in the studio in Copenhagen,” said Bateson. “It was a bit like a mission, like there were codes on the doors. People would see me and say, ‘Hey Dave, you’re in again? What are you doing?’ And I’d be like, ‘Nothing! I am just here visiting. Go away!’ And so I’d go into the room and record for hours and sneak away again. It was a different experience, but I rather liked it.”
From Tutorial to Character
Absolution was Perry’s first Hitman game and it was unique because she didn’t even play Diana Burnwood — she was only the faceless tutorial voice that explained the HUD and told players to try to kill with discretion. It’s almost unheard of to go from a tutorial voice to embodying an established character in the next entry and that unanticipated promotion sat well with Perry.
“When you’re an in-game tutorial, you’re kind of detached from the game in a way,” she said. “You’re really just there as a presenter. I just took it at face value at that time and I didn’t foresee it coming what it eventually became. After I did Absolution, they said, ‘Look, we really enjoy your voice and we think you would be great as Diana, so would you be willing to graduate into a real character?’ And I was obviously thrilled to do that. But I didn’t see it coming.”
Absolution is often seen as a black sheep in the series because of its more linear gameplay, meaning longtime fans tend to discount this entry. It also took around seven years to make as it was overhauled during development. IO crunched heavily for years to get it done, which the team has been quite open about. However, that negativity from the fans and the poor working conditions didn’t transfer over to Perry or Bateson. In fact, the two explained how being a voice actor shields them from the lows of game development.
“You’re invited into the final stages of the process and if there is an up or down going on with the developer, in this case, IO Interactive, you don’t really know about it so much,” said Perry. “Or at least, I didn’t. Maybe David did since he is in the same city as IO Interactive. But for me, recording in London, I was not really in close contact with what is actually happening in that given moment, so you tend to learn about these things in hindsight.”
A Whole New World of Assassination (and Problems)
The lows didn’t stop with Absolution as the newest Hitman trilogy went through some turbulent times, too. Square Enix, a publisher with a knack for being openly disappointed with its games, divested from IO Interactive in 2017 after the 2016 Hitman didn’t sell well enough. Seeing Hitman almost die before IO could realize its World of Assassination was heart-wrenching for long-time fans. And no more Hitman would mean that Bateson would lose his most recognizable role. He even almost thought he lost the job the same way he got it: a coincidental run-in near the IO offices.
“Purely by chance, I was filming a commercial in a building next door to IO Interactive,” said Bateson. “And at the end of day, I came out onto the street and I was literally about 20 yards away from IO’s main entrance and out came the ex-CEO of IO. So I said hello and he said, ‘Have you heard?’ And I said I hadn’t and asked what he was talking about. And then he dropped the bombshell of Square Enix pulling the plug. What are the chances of that? It took me completely by surprise. And it took IO Interactive by surprise. It was a real body blow and came right out of the blue because they thought they had something really special.”
Perry said she was “definitely worried” that Hitman 2 would be prematurely pushed off a building or fed to a hippo. Since sales for the 2016 game were lower than expected, IO went through layoffs and money troubles and moving forward meant that plans had to change. Ideas had to be pared down. Features were cut. Maps shrank.
Part of this descoping meant that the motion capture IO had planned was also nixed, which was something Perry was looking forward to. The stills that stood in place of cutscenes were widely criticized because of their static nature, but, even though she missed out on doing motion capture, she said the most important thing was that they still got to work on it.
Some Well-Deserved Success
IO was later proved right before the release of Hitman 2, where the free trial of the 2016 title gave the studio some security since many were going on to buy the game. This then snowballed and continued to Hitman 3’s launch, which was IO’s most profitable year ever thanks to how Hitman 3 sold 300% better than the previous title and recouped its entire development cost in one week.
To Perry, this proved the team’s “grit and talent” as it was able to see its most notable series ascend to new highs after falling to historic lows. Bateson was similarly impressed at the trajectory after nearly losing such an iconic role.
“I am chuffed for the fans,” he said. “They not only have their will in terms of the franchise continuing but they also saw IO put their money where their mouth was when they managed to get back the Hitman IP. And it let them loose on the world. There certainly came a lot of energy into IO Interactive. It was a lot of fun to see.”
Long Live Hitman
Even though IO is developing a 007 game, it is still making more Hitman 3 content. The Freelancer mode is slated for a spring release, while at least one new map is on the way sometime later this year. This unexpected return to the climactic, trilogy-ending game is odd given how Hitman 3 was hailed as a goodbye to the series (for now) and didn’t have any notable DLC announced for almost a full year. Perry did return to play Diana for this upcoming content in some unknown capacity and explained how it was like leaving your birthday party before coming back and grabbing your coat and staying for an extra few hours. But, according to her, that’s not a bad feeling to have.
“It was a long goodbye and then you realize you get to go back, but it’s not a bad thing to go back,” said Perry. “It was sort of an emotional rollercoaster in some ways, to let go of something that has become so beloved and so precious and to have some sort of internal farewell to the character that you’ve spent so much time with and had all these stories and relationships with. So it’s a bit of a false ending, but I was so delighted to come back.”
Bateson hasn’t been asked to once again don the suit and tie as of yet, which may be because the new content is positioned in a way to not require any additional dialogue from him. He said IO has “20 years of [his] grunts,” so the studio may be able to make due with what it already has.
Regardless, the last 10 years have been a ride for the two actors. From watching the franchise nearly flatline to witnessing its historic ascension, Bateson and Perry have been there to see it happen, even if Bateson briefly watched it from the sidelines at some point. While Hitman‘s next 10 years might be a little more quiet as IO pursues other ventures, the last 10 years have been made for an entertaining story, one buoyed by its two memorable leads.
