A lost letter written by author Ian Fleming has revealed new details about the original visual design intended for secret agent James Bond.
The British secret agent, also known as 007, was created by Fleming and introduced in 1953 as a clever spy equipped with advanced technological devices ahead of his time. Working for MI6, the character holds a licence to kill that authorizes him to use lethal means to achieve his goals.
The newly recovered correspondence shows how Fleming wanted the character to look when he hired artist John McLusky to draw an initial sketch. In his specific instructions to the artist, Fleming wrote that they should avoid giving the character an American-shaped head.
John McLusky visual design
The initial sketch by McLusky remains the only visual design of James Bond publicly known to have received approval from the author. Fleming and McLusky subsequently exchanged several letters to make further adjustments to the spy's image.
Only a small portion of that correspondence has been recovered so far. The letters were first discovered by the artist's son while he was selling some of his father's artwork.
Fleming also included detailed physical descriptions of James Bond in his original novels. At the start of the book series, Bond was described as standing 1.83 meters tall and weighing 76 kilos, with black hair, blue eyes, and a scar on his right cheek.
Future Bond 26 movie details
Fleming's literary creation inspired a major movie franchise that currently includes 25 feature films. The upcoming entry in the series does not have an official title yet and is referred to as Bond 26.
The movie is currently in pre-production at studios supervised by Amazon MGM. Director Denis Villeneuve will direct the project from a script written by screenwriter Steven Knight, though no release date has been indicated yet.
Producer Amy Pascal revealed that the studio plans to disclose the identity of the actor playing the new 007 before the end of 2026.
