Jacksepticeye Talks Being Hitman's New Elusive Target, Bloodborne Movie, Dispatch, and More

Seán McLoughlin, best known as Jacksepticeye online, is a very busy man. He's made a comic book, he has a coffee company, he is producing the animated Bloodborne film, and now, he's getting killed by Agent 47 in a new Hitman update. The creator will be added into the game as an elusive target for free starting today. Players will have a chance to take him down until November 25, so you've got time to find creative ways to kill him.

He won't be playing himself, however. Jacksepticeye is filling the shoes of a character that he describes as a "flanderized" version of content creators, particularly ones in the so-called manosphere. It seems like the character may pull a bit from controversial influencers like Jake Paul, Andrew Tate, and notable podcasters that have become divisive figures online. Ultimately, it makes for an interesting space for Agent 47 to operate in.

We got the chance to ask him about being in both Hitman and 007 First Light, how the Bloodborne movie is shaping up, and much more.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

IGN: How did all of the Hitman stuff come about?

Jacksepticeye: I mean, I get pitched a lot of stuff, I guess, just because I played various games from different studios, or I'm in a very fortunate position where people come to me sometimes and ask if I want to be in something cool. And this was one of those. I think because I played so many of the Hitman games before, it put me on IO's radar, and then we just kind of chatted naturally about different things and they floated this idea a while ago, and it just never really aligned. We tried hard to make it work, but either I was doing stuff, or they were doing stuff, and then 007 [First Light] was coming out. So they were super busy on that and all hands on deck. So it took a while, but we're here.

IGN: Did you have any say in how you were incorporated?

Jacksepticeye: Yeah, I mean they're super collaborative. They immediately were like, "What do you want to be? Do you want to be you? Do you want to be somebody else?" Which I immediately was like, "Someone else; I don't want to be just me. So make up a flanderized version of me or just all content creators in general within the current landscape." So it's more fun to do that because then I get to live in something else rather than just trying to be me. And there's nothing to talk about when it's me. It's like, “Oh, I sit in my room, and I play video games.”

I'm busy, and stuff goes on, but most of it is like they're sitting at a computer taking interviews or writing emails or giving feedback. But when I went to their studio and met up with them and the writers and the people who made the level and everything, they were just like, "What do you want changed? What dialogue do you want?" They were really, really collaborative and wanted to make sure that I was happy with it. But I was such a fan of the work already. I was like, "I trust you guys implicitly." When I saw the dialogue they wrote, it was so funny that I was just on board immediately.

IGN: So you are basically an amalgamation of a content creator worthy of Agent 47's crosshairs?

Jacksepticeye: Yes. I'm in the sort of manosphere influencer space, so I am completely insufferable, and you will want to shoot me in the head immediately as soon as you find my character or do horrible things to him, which I guess is part and parcel for Hitman anyway. You have to be killing for a reason. But again, because it's just so funny and fun to goof around in that space, and we have a lot of reference material to draw from, and there's a lot of very funny slang that made its way into the mission. There are some lines that I'm like, "I can't believe this is being said around Agent 47 of all people." You hear [Agent 47 actor] David Bateson's voice come after some sort of looksmaxing phrase. It's so funny.

IGN: Did you learn anything about how the Hitman levels are developed through this process? As a fan, was there anything that surprised you about their creative process in putting these things together?

Jacksepticeye: The thing that surprised me most about it is just how fast they are at doing it. I don't want to give away too many secrets about their process because it's not my place to say, and maybe there's some stuff they don't want people to know, but just how fast and iterative everything was. Some stuff we changed on the fly when I was recording the lines and that was fine because there's so many systems going on in place all at the same time.

So seeing that branching path of you say this line, but now if you go here, here, here, or here, all this other stuff comes out of it. And I think seeing that in real time and just seeing how many lines of coverage we needed to get for how many different things, and it's not even just the stuff that 47 interacts with, you can just be walking around the level, you can throw a bottle, you can hit somebody else.

All of that stuff has to be so modular all the time. But the fact that it all works together so seamlessly, it was really cool to [see]. There wasn't anything super unique about it. It is just really, really hard work at the end of the day. But how fast they're able to do it, I think was what was really surprising. Some of the people on their team are some of the best in the industry, I think, at what they do. And in some ways they get a lot of credit for that, but in a lot of other ways I'm like, "This is way harder to do than you guys think it is." There's a reason Hitman is so unique in this space because so many other people probably tried it and were like, "F**k this, I can't. There's no way."

IGN: When officially did you start doing this? How quickly did this all turn around?

Jacksepticeye: I said yes to it a few months back, but again, we had been talking about it a year maybe. I forget the exact timeline, but when it finally started happening, it was like, "Okay, we're going to make it." And then because it's using some of the levels they've had already, it speeds up the process, which I am all for. I'm a huge fan of Fromsoft, so reusing assets wherever you can, if we're just getting more games and people have an easier time, amazing. So when I went in, I only recorded the lines a month ago and then they were just like, "Okay, all in, level's done, it's all polished up, trailer's ready." I was like, "What the f**k? How do you do it that fast?" And it's not like, "Oh, we can tell that it was done quickly.” We played and it feels like it should have taken way longer to do. They're demons at what they do.

IGN: I'd love to also ask you about that 007 role as well, just because that was cool to see you in there. How did that come about? Was it kind of the same thing of just like, "We've known you for a while and we want to figure out a way to make this work?"

Jacksepticeye: Yeah, I mean, I would love to say, "Oh, I'm just so good at what I do," that they simply had to put me in the game. But there are certain roles you get because of the cache that being Jacksepticeye brings. So I think it was also because we had been trying to do the Hitman thing in the background for a while and then didn't pan out. It was like, "Well, we can put you in this one and it matches." And I guess because they had Shroud and Khaby [Lame] in the game as well that they were like, "Well, it makes sense."

But when they asked me to be in it, I was like, "Can I just be a dude?" And they were like, "Yeah, we already just have you as a cloak room guy." I was just excited to do anything. I was surprised I got scanned in for it, which is funny because in Hitman, I think I look more like me than the 007, and they didn't even use the scan for the Hitman one. They were just like somebody was a fan of you at the studio and they wanted to do it and they just hand did it all.

And it looks phenomenal. It was so cool to see. I keep saying it looks more like me than me because the 007 one I look at and I'm like, "Yeah, I can tell it looks a little off and I don't have the long hair anymore. Hair's gray now, so a lot has changed in that time. But yeah, it was just because I was a fan of their games and they had a fun little thing to put me in. Whenever it's something like that, I'm like, please don't let me disrupt the flow. If you have no idea who I am, then you can just go along and see it.

IGN: Dispatch just hit five million copies sold. I know that the team behind that game has been expressing some interest in exploring other stories in that universe. I don't know if anyone's talked to you about that, but what are your thoughts on more Dispatch?

Jacksepticeye: I'm the same with everyone else. I just want more of it. I want to be Punch Up again. I mean, I wish I knew more about what was going on. If they ever need Punch Up back, I'm a phone call away and I'll be there in 10 minutes. I love that character and I love that world and I love the Debs. So whenever they're ready to or if they want to tackle more of it, I'm on board.

IGN: I saw that the Dispatch team is doing some writing on the Until Dawn sequel as well, which is awesome.

Jacksepticeye: I found out that they were involved at the same time everyone else did. It is one of those things that as soon as you see those names attached, it's like, “Okay, now I trust it inherently.” Because I kept saying a lot of the reason why Dispatch is so good, everyone put in incredible performances, but it's also the writing is just so good in that game. When you're in the studio reading it, you are laughing in real time and the people they had directing the cast and everything, they knew what they wanted. They had such a clear vision of what this looked and sounded like. And I think massive credit goes to the people who wrote those characters because they feel so lived in and they feel so organic and real.

IGN: I also know you tried to take a crack at making your own game and that didn't work out, as far as I understand. Obviously that's just a learned experience though, regardless. I think it's always interesting to go through those processes regardless of the outcome because you learn a lot. Is there still any interest on your end of making a game?

Jacksepticeye: Yeah, I mean, it's always kind of in the background. I think what I learned from it, and I luckily have a lot of developer friends in every tier of the industry, the thing that people need to take away from all of this is that video games are really fu**ing hard to make. Even on the smallest level, you see the nuts and bolts of it and how they're made and how they're stuck together sometimes, and then other times it's just like it costs this much and it took this long because it's just a miracle any of them exist. It's like magic when it's under the hood. But yeah, it wasn't progressing the way I had hoped. I mean, it was just me and one other guy trying to do it. I had too much other stuff going on, so I couldn't be fully involved in managing that process.

I also think in terms of, again, making a thing from the ground up, that is my idea. It's a bit harder for me to do, and you do get lost in that. Having really strong decisions I think is what's necessary to direct and make anything. But I do have another thing in the background that I'm helping fund and make with a smaller team that isn't my idea that I have found a lot of joy in doing because they get to make what they want to make. You can remove that financial barrier that a lot of people have going into making their own thing.

They get to do it and live out their dreams and craft something in their story. And then I get to give feedback and creative input here and there of what I think from the outside. And they've been very cool about that because it's such an iterative process and when you're in the weeds of it, it's very difficult to see what you have. And I think that's the same for movies or books or anything. It's good to have that outside influence coming in to give feedback. It's why play testing and stuff exists just to be like, "Hey, this sucks. This is awesome. Pick and choose." But it's very fun. I find producing is quite a fun space to be in right now.

IGN: What lessons did you learn from that experience besides video games are hard when you were making that game?

Jacksepticeye: A lot of lessons in how to manage teams, manage expectations, manage deadlines, going in with more clear cut ideas. For YouTube, a lot of times it's like, we'll find it in the edit, but that doesn't translate to a film. Sometimes it does, and then 1% of the time it'll work out and you found something better in the edit than what you filmed. But just having more clear cut reasons for why you're doing something. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

And how to just have a clearer focus on an end goal, whether that be a deadline, whether it be managing expectations, your own or the audiences, because I've never really done that. And I'm also just one of those people who's like, I've never had a proper job in my life either. I worked construction when I was 17, 18, because my girlfriend's dad at the time got me a job and it paid for college. And then after that I did college and YouTube.

So I don't know what it's like to have a boss over you or anything like that. Luckily, I had that experience because it helped form what I want more in terms of going forward and pushing my limits and other projects along at the same time realizing, “Oh, I can't do it all.” I don't have infinite brain space and I don't have infinite energy and time. So everything had to whittle down into what I really want to do, which is where I'm at now. So it's always like every project you do is a new experience and hopefully you can take that into the next one.

IGN: As IGN, we have to ask about what's going on with the Bloodborne movie. Have things advanced significantly since the announcement? It’s been the better part of a year since that news broke.

Jacksepticeye: God, yeah, that went by quick. Things are obviously much more along the pipeline than it was back then. It's one of those things that I personally would love to just say everything as a fan of this thing, but then there's no expectation or there's no fun in the process. So we definitely have a lot more stuff mapped out where we're going with the story is there are people in place to make this thing happen, and hopefully sooner than later, we can have announcements where we talk about who's involved and where it's going and little teases of the story and where we're at with that. But I am proud of the work I've been doing on it. I think it's such an interesting job to have, and for me, it's fun to do. It can be really stressful as well at the same time because you're taking on such a monumental IP.

And I am just there to be like, "Hey, we need this pinprick perfect." Will we ever get something perfect? I don't know. It's probably impossible to get everyone's expectations into one central pillar, but as someone who's brought on to do this job, I'm right in the position where I need to be and we're poised to have something really cool.

IGN: When you say you have people in place, is that a writer and a director?

Jacksepticeye: Yeah. I would also be very worried if we weren't even at that point. And it's also because it's animated, it takes so long to do. So the sooner we can get the building blocks in place to start moving the big pieces, then it'll be better for that.

IGN: It's the right idea. You could make a live action Bloodborne, but I do think even though it's going to take longer in theory, it's for the better, in my opinion.

Jacksepticeye: Honestly, I think it would be faster, but it's just, would it be better? Probably not. I don't know. We all have pie in the sky dreams of doing that and making a huge story. And I guess we'll see what happens with Elden Ring, but even I don't think they're doing [the entirety of] Elden Ring. I'm sure they pick one part of that to be able to do because I mean, it'll cost you $600 million to do Elden Ring in live action. It's just the amount of time, effort, pieces moving, the amount of financials needed in place, is it even a smart decision to do it live action at that point when there's a lot of stuff that you'd be able to do in animation that you can't do in live action or you wouldn't nail down?

I think Bloodborne specifically is poised to do that well because there's so much otherworldly aspects in that that would just be so cool to be able to blow the doors off animated rather than being like, "Okay, put you in front of a green screen and let's hope for the best." Now we can really whittle it down into something cool.

IGN: Are you guys going to look at the Elden Ring movie as maybe a source of inspiration on how to adapt a game in this style? Or is it more just like, "We know what we're doing and Elden Ring is live action, so it's different for them?"

Jacksepticeye: I mean, probably a bit of both. It is sort of a thing that it'll come out before ours. So you look at it and go, "Okay, well, what did they do? What was their idea? Are we doing similar things?" But I mean, Bloodborne and Elden Ring are so far apart from each other. The structure maybe is similar, but in terms of story [one is] Victorian England [and the other is about] gods and a mountain [which are] very different from each other. So I would like to not take influence too much because you don't want to repeat the same things. And if it comes out, people are going to be upset, happy, indifferent. It's going to be a huge wide gamut of what people enjoy about different things. So hopefully we give something people they don't expect, give them something that's interesting. And at the end of the day, it's all [about] why are we adapting it?

I don't want to adapt something if we're just going to tell the same stories with the same characters over and over and over again. Movies are a completely different medium than video games. What do movies do better than a game does? It's passive versus interactive, so how do we push and pull with that and play with different ideas? I think I don't want to be involved in an adaptation if it doesn't feel like there's a story worth telling within it or if it's not a good idea.

IGN: Bringing it back full circle to Hitman, would you ever want to adapt that IP?

Jacksepticeye: Yeah, I think if people want to adapt Hitman, go for it. Anything can be adapted. I don't think I'm the right guy to adapt Hitman because I think that sort of espionage action type of thing, I don't know how to write those stories. I don't know how to adapt that. I don't live in that world genre-wise. But yeah, I mean, it all comes down to what is cool, if there's a different story. I talked before with IGN about Soma. Whenever there's leeway in the story and there's latitude to tell different tales within universes, I think that's always most interesting. I don't really ever want to take an IP and just redo the game story.

I think we've seen that happen so many times. I'm not going to name names of things, but people already have adaptations in their brains, but it just never really works out. Something like Fallout or Resident Evil are really good examples recently of for all intents and purposes, this is that world. We're just shifting the lens a little bit and we get something really interesting within that space.

So I think those stories are worth telling because I remember we were at the BAFTA games and Ben Starr did an interview with somebody and he was talking about adaptation, how they shouldn't exist. And then everyone was tweeting at me being like, "Do you and Ben hate each other now?" And I text him being like, "Dude, we're mortal enemies." But he has the right idea that why are we adapting it is always the number one question. And if the answer is money, I don't want to be involved in that. And if you're chasing that, that's business. I don't blame anybody, but that's not why I'm interested in adapting anything.

IGN: This year, we’ve seen this rise in the YouTuber turned filmmaker pipeline with Obsession and Backrooms. Obviously, a lot of people have a lot of different perspectives on that, but you're kind of in that field. I'm curious about your thoughts on that whole and how things are shifting.

Jacksepticeye: [Points to a hat that reads “GAMER” with a Sony Pictures logo on the side.] Yeah, peep the hat. I think it's wonderful. I think it's, I don't want to say disrespectful because I understand why people ask the question, but saying Curry and Kane are YouTubers turned filmmakers, it's just such a massive disservice to them. They've already been making movies their whole careers.

It’s easy to look at something like Curry coming out of nowhere. No one heard his name before and then saying, "Oh, it looks like a magic trick. He just came out of nowhere and did that." But if you trace it back, his last couple of short films that he did, Milk and Serial and The Chair, were all so good that it just felt like such a natural extension. And Kane said it in an interview too, when Backrooms was happening, that he had already been making movies. This was just it with more resources and more knobs to turn on. So it's like, what does that look like when you get more resources to be able to make what you're making? But the process of doing it for him was the same because they're already filmmakers. Someone like me going from gaming into filmmaking with no experience making films is very different.

But I mean, it doesn't get made by one person. You have a clear vision and you hope that what you're making is good, but you have ADs, you have camera assistants, you have DPs, you have grips, gaffers, sound. You have so many people on productions making what you are doing. And hopefully if it's bad, I hope that if I'm ever making something bad, somebody comes out and is like, "Hey, by the way, this fu**ing sucks." And I feel approachable enough to have that said.

And those guys are like that. They just want to make something good. I keep saying that Kane and Curry will have an Oscar in their hands at some point because they are just powerhouses when it comes to... It's not just even directing. Both of them know how to edit. Kane knows Blender inside out. They have such a clear vision of what they want that other people are just enabling them to act that out. I met with Curry after Obsession came out and he was like, "If you have strong instincts, it's just making decisions all day.” [That] is what good directing is. You just need to believe in what you're making. And if it's A or B, pick A and go down that line. There's a lot more to it, but he's also just so good at letting you know what it's like to do this.

It was just so inspiring and kind of lit a fire under me to be like, "Whoa, you can do it." It's just amazing what they're able to accomplish with what they have. I'm just very impressed. I don't think being a YouTuber has any part to play in that. We kept saying Sam Rami, 30 years ago, if YouTube was around, he would've been making short films on YouTube. Steven Spielberg would've been making them. Martin Scorsese, [Quentin] Tarantino, all of these people would've just done that. It wasn't around when they had a platform to be able to do it. So I think this is just the current new age version of that.