Beyond 007: What We've Learned About the Other 00 Agents in Bond Movies

Sean Bean with Pierce Brosnan in ‘GoldenEye’ (MGM)

In a world of mega-franchises, crossovers, and spinoffs, it’s amazing to think James Bond has held such a monopoly over the MI6 universe. But yes, there are actually other spies out there with licenses to kill beyond 007.

Not that we know that much about them. In SPECTRE, the 24th movie to focus on the singular exploits of 007, another agent is at least mentioned. Q (Ben Whishaw) informs Bond (Daniel Craig) that the new Aston Martin ride that was being pimped for him has been reassigned to another agent, one 009. Later, we find out that 009 has a taste for Frank Sinatra when the car’s personalized stereo system blares out “New York, New York” (which Bond promptly presses the kill-switch on).

Related: James Bond Déjà Vu: Cataloging All the Callbacks in 'SPECTRE’ (Spoilers!)

It got us thinking: What other agents have made appearances or been referenced throughout the course of Bond’s cinematic repertoire? Here’s all the intel we’ve been able to gather on them:

(Note that multiple agents have been designated with the same 00 code-names.)

001-009: A group of MI6 agents appear together in early briefing scenes in a couple films. Nine are seated together in Thunderball (1965) and six in The World Is Not Enough (1999), but in these cases the agents serve as little more than glorified extras. However, in both films, we discover that one of the 00 agents is a woman.

A group of 00 agents in 'The World Is Not Enough’ (MGM)

002: Revealed to be named Bill Fairbanks in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), this agent was gunned down by the triple-nippled titular villain, a.k.a. Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). The ill-fated spy was traveling with a belly dancer named Saida (Carmen du Sautoy), and she was in his arms when he was shot in the neck and killed in Beirut in 1969, five years before the events of Gun. The bullet was never found. This prompts Bond (Roger Moore) to track her down in present day, where he discovers that she keeps the bullet in her navel as her lucky charm. Thirteen years later we’d briefly meet another 002 (Glyn Baker), who trains with Bond (Timothy Dalton) and 004 in the opening sequence of The Living Daylights (1987), during which he’s memorably blasted with a paintball gun and “killed.” He’s referred to as “John” by the SAS shooter, which is likely short for John Winter, the name of 002 in a 1983 comic titled Liquidate Bond. (BTW, you can have that 002’s autograph for the bargain-basement price of $35.)

Glyn Baker as 002 in 'The Living Daylights’

003: In the opening sequence of A View to a Kill (1985), Bond (Moore) tracks down the frozen corpse of 003 (presumably killed by the KGB) in the snowy mountains Siberia to recover a microchip from the locket worn around his neck.

004: While 002 is play-killed in that Gibraltar wargame drill at the onset of Living Daylights, 004 (played by Frederick Warder) meets his demise for real. As he’s scaling the side of a cliff, a KGB agent posing as a 00 player cuts the rope, sending 004 falling to his death. But not before attaching a note to his body that reads, “Death to Spies.” Bond avenges the death in a matter of minutes.

006: Also known as Alec Trevelyan, 006 gets a good amount of screen time in the early goings of GoldenEye (1995), where he’s paired with 007 (Pierce Brosnan) as they infiltrate a Russian chemical weapons plant. But since 006 is played by infamous onscreen death victim Sean Bean, you know he’s doomed. Soon enough he is executed by the Soviet general Ourumov… or at least we think he is. It’s revealed later 006 faked his death and is working with the Soviets. (Turns out he’s bitter that the British government screwed over his Russian parents, who were Lienz Cossacks.) Which means, yep, we get to see Sean Bean die a second death at the climax of the film, when Bond dispatches him from a satellite dish.

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008: If Bond were ever to perish (unlikely), it’d be 008 who would fill his role. At a couple points throughout the series, 008 is mentioned as a possible replacement for Bond when M and company are less than satisfied with 007’s work. The other agent is first brought up as in Goldfinger (1964) – when Bond (Sean Connery) admits he’s expendable to the title villain (Gert Frobe) in an effort to stay alive, and then again in The Living Daylights, when M (Robert Brown) mentions bringing in 008 from Hong Kong because he’s better at following orders.

Andy Bradford as 009 in 'Octopussy’

009: Before we learned his vehicular and musical preferences in SPECTRE, we knew this: A prior 009 agent (played by Andy Bradford) was posing as a clown in East Berlin in the early goings of Octopussy (1983). He had stolen a fake Fabergé egg from Octopussy’s circus and was attempting to get away when he was fatally stabbed in the back by the evil twins Mischka and Grischka. However, he is able to crash his way into a British ambassador’s office and deliver the egg just before croaking. Another designated 009 lived to die another day; in The World Is Not Enough, the spy currently given that number was sent to assassinate the villainous Renard (Robert Carlyse), yet despite a shot to the head, the Russian terrorist survived, with the lodged bullet slowly killing off his senses. It’s up to Bond to finish the job.

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