Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Writer Reveals Canceled Plans for Adam Jensen’s Story to Lead Into the Original Deus Ex

Eidos-Montréal’s much-loved Deux Ex prequel series famously ended on a cliffhanger with Mankind Divided, frustrating fans. Now, they know exactly what they missed out on.

During an episode of the From Script to Life podcast, Human Revolution and Mankind Divided writer Mark Cecere discussed where protagonist Adam Jensen’s story would have gone in the third game, were it not canceled. The writers planned for Jensen to take out one member of the Illuminati rather than the Illuminati itself, which would have caused “Bob Page to become Bob Page.”

Bob Page is the antagonist of the original Deus Ex game, Ion Storm’s hugely influential 2000 cyberpunk adventure. So, in this way, Jensen’s fate is to cause Deux Ex.

“He can never catch up to the Illuminati,” Cecere explained. “We know this. We know the Illuminati keep going until 2050. We know some of those same characters that are in the Illuminati inner circle are in 2050. So Jensen can never get there and do something concrete.

“So, what can happen? That was the question we were trying to answer at some point. So we did have one name that we could get rid of, and that was the one that Jensen would have caught up to and done something.

“The repercussions were that by Jensen doing this, it causes Deus Ex, if that makes sense. And that’s the tragedy of Jensen, is that he causes what happens after — by doing something — he causes Bob Page to become Bob Page. That was where we were heading.”

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely we’ll ever get to see this version of events. After the release of Mankind Divided in 2016, previous owner Square Enix had Eidos-Montréal shift to other projects, including 2021’s Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Then, in 2022, Square Enix sold Eidos-Montréal and the Deus Ex franchise to controversial umbrella company Embracer. Work on a brand new Deus Ex game had already begun, but this too was canceled in 2024, resulting in signifcant layoffs at Eidos-Montréal.

At the time, Elias Toufexis, who played Adam Jensen, waved goodbye to the character seemingly for good, saying: “alas, his story seems done.” While Toufexis confirmed he had not worked on this latest canceled Deus Ex game and expressed hope that another company might pick up the Deus Ex licence, it felt final.

Now, reacting to Cecere’s comments, Toufexis said: “Hey this would have been fun huh?”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.