WMG / Hitman 3

Pre-release theories

Targets

• Alexa Carlisle.
  • Confirmed.
• Carl Ingram.
  • Confirmed.
• Marcus Stuyvesant.
  • Confirmed.
• Cornelia Stuyvesant.
  • Jossed.
• Lucas Grey. He makes a Face–Heel Turn in Season 3 and 47 is forced to kill him.
  • Jossed.
• Diana Burnwood, for similar reasons to Grey.
  • Jossed.
• Olivia Hall. If Grey turns it wouldn't be a stretch if she follows.
  • Jossed.
• The Constant, Arthur Edwards.
  • Confirmed.
• The new Constant, whoever is Edwards's replacement.
  • Jossed. However, one of the targets in Mendoza, Don Archibald Yates, is a potential candidate for the position.
• Jin Po, Sun Po and/or Tren Po (assuming the former two are separate people).
  • Jossed.
• At least one person affiliated with Crystal Dawn. Perhaps Mabaya Mzabumi.
  • Jossed.
• Sheikh Salman al-Ghazali. He's appeared twice so far, and given that he was one of IAGO's customers, he's clearly up to some shady stuff. Adding credence to this theory is the skyscraper in Dubai being called the Burj Al-Ghazali.
  • Jossed. He's doesn't appear in the game. His father Omaral-Ghazali does appear in the Dubai level but he isn't a target either.
• One or more members of the Moreno cartel. There are several mentions of them in the game and Nolan Cassidy's biography states that they're an asset of Providence. One possible target could be Curare, a cartel hitman mentioned in a news broadcast in the Colombia mission.
  • Jossed.
• Byron Washington, the father of Sophia and Zoe. He managed to convince the Partners to have his daughters replace Janus as head of the Ark Society instead of his direct successor. He must be a very powerful member of their organization and a perfect target if you plan to weaken their leadership.
  • Jossed.
• Dexy Barat. She's obviously got a lot of skeletons in her closet, and it seems likely that at least some of her chickens will come home to roost, given the series' themes.
  • Jossed.
• An associate or relative of Savi the arms dealer from Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman.
  • Jossed. Sadly, the closest to any reference to her is in Mendoza when talking to Don as the Lawyer.
• A Blue Seed executive.
  • Jossed.
• An ICA agent, handler or director.
  • Confirmed, a group of ICA agents are targets in Apex Predator, as well as two officials in End of an Era.
• Noel Crest. The final Haven Island cutscene implies that Grey won't stay loyal to 47, so it wouldn't be a stretch to think that we may end up having to kill another member of the militia. Alternatively, Crest could be providing his services to a target affiliated with Providence, now that Grey's militia has technically been disbanded.
  • Initially Jossed. However, he later became a target on the Ambrose Island DLC map.
• Orson Mills. Edwards mentions he's been captured by Providence and is being interrogated for information, so Grey might want to silence him.
  • Jossed, though he can be killed in Carpathian Mountains
• Locksley.
  • Jossed.
• The unknown crew member who according to Diana, freed The Constant. He or she is probably a former member of Grey’s militia, so there’s plenty of room to flesh out this currently unidentified character and give him/her an interesting backstory.
  • Jossed.
• Director Fanin.
  • Jossed.

Locations

• America
  • Jossed, surprisingly.
• Russia
  • Jossed.
• China
  • Confirmed with the Chongqing level.
• Spain
  • Jossed.
• England
  • Confirmed with the Dartmoor level.
• Scotland
  • Jossed.
• Germany
  • Confirmed with the Berlin level.
• Australia
  • Jossed.
• Denmark
  • Jossed.
• The Netherlands
  • Jossed.
• Khandanyang
  • Jossed.
• Hong Kong
  • While jossed, there have been suggestions the Chongqing level was originally set to pass in Hong Kong but the recent political disturbances caused IO to change location (see more about this here).
• South Korea
  • Jossed.
• Taiwan
  • Jossed.
• Mexico
  • Jossed.
• Africa
  • Jossed.
• Romania
  • Confirmed with the Carpathian Mountains level.

Who the Constant is addressing in the trailer

• Agent 47.
• Lucas Grey.
• Diana Burnwood.
• Olivia Hall.
• The Partners, or one or two of them.
• Himself, a Despair Speech before he kills himself or 47 and/or Grey kill him.

All jossed, he is never seen giving the speech.

Marcus Stuyvesant will be killed in Khandanyang

As stated above, he's the only Partner without a clear location, and after the hype in the past two games, it'll be a shame if IOI skimmed out on Khandanyang.

• Jossed. The Chongqing trailer shows that he will be assassinated alongside Ingram in Dubai.

The Constant and Lucas Grey are working together

• Jossed.

The Constant has prior history or a personal vendetta against Diana

• Jossed.

Diana will go Mission Control Is Off Its Meds in a mission

Either due to Providence interfering, or her doing a Face–Heel Turn. It'll be a good shock to see our friendly handler losing her mind mid-gameplay.

• Jossed, but her call does go to static at the end of Dartmoor.

Olivia Hall will killed off as a Sacrificial Lion

• Jossed. Grey is.

The Carlisles will be the last Partner family to fall

• Seemingly confirmed. Carl Ingram and Marcus Stuyvesant are both targets in a level that has been confirmed to take place before the level where Alexa Alice Carlisle is present. So, unless we have to assassinate another Ingram or Stuyvesant in a later level, it looks like the Carlisles will indeed be the last Providence Partner family to be taken out.
  • Confirmed.

The ICA will work with or be taken over by Providence

Who will send ICA agents to assassinate 47, Grey, Hall and Diana.

• Confirmed.

The Constant will ally himself with the protagonists

Planning to take over Providence for himself, or just retire with the money, he will provide intel to our heroes about the Partners.

• Jossed. While he seemingly gets Diana to turn against 47, Grey and 47 (and later just 47) remains opposed to him.

Either Agent 47, Diana Burnwood or both will die at the end of this game

• "Death Awaits" is the game's motto.
• With Grey being 47's clone brother and them fighting The Illuminati, the stakes have been brought to a spectacular level, both on a personal and a professional scale. It's unlikely IOI will ever top it, so they'll end the series off on a high note.
• Diana learned (or will learn) that her parents' assassination, the catalyst for her Start of Darkness, was carried out by the very agent she's been assigned to for years. Even if she doesn't betray him, it's unlikely that she will be able or willing to work with him again.
• With Diana and 47 betraying the ICA once again, whether the ICA would let them back in, or even spare them, is debatable.

Scenarios:

• Diana confronts 47 on her parents' assassination at gunpoint. 47 will admit to their murders and let Diana kill him.
• Diana betrays 47 to the Constant and gets him killed.
• 47 kills Diana for betraying him to the Constant.
• 47 performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save Diana.
• 47 and Diana die at each other's side in a Last Stand against Lucas Grey, the Constant or Providence guards.
• After they defeat Lucas Grey, the Constant and the Partners, a Providence assassin, Grey militia member or some other Mook assassinates 47 or Diana, leaving the other to mourn and avenge their death.
• Diana kills herself and 47 with a grenade or another explosive, a Call-Back to their very first meeting as shown in the finale of Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman, where Diana forces 47 to stay put and put away his gun by unpinning a grenade.
  • All jossed, although there is a callback to that same issue a few pages later about how Diana saw him as a blank page to fill in the appropriate cutscene.

The season will end on a Downer Ending

• Jossed. The season ends on what is, at worst, a Bittersweet Ending. However, it will have a Downer Ending if 47 injects himself with the serum.

Interpol, an Interpol agent or a group of Interpol agents will appear as antagonists

Given that whatever schemes they are up to convinced the highly principled Penelope Graves in Season 1 to switch sides. Bonus if they have an explicit connection with Graves, whether as a friend, rival or lover.

• Jossed.

Agent Smith will reappear in a main mission and be connected to a Mission Story

He'll be investigating one of the Partners and/or one of their associates. If 47 aids him, Smith would arrest or kill 47's targets for him.

• Jossed.

The season will have over 6 main missions

• Jossed.

The season will have a Christmas Episode in a main mission

With The Ark Society taking place in November, it's only a couple weeks until Christmas.

• Jossed.

The Dubai mission level is the headquarters of the Church of Ascendants

Assuming they weren't retooled into the Ark Society, or weren’t just simply meant to be the game’s version of the Church of Happyology, IOI has to follow up on all the hints they dropped about them in the 2016 game eventually.

• Jossed. The Spectre has no apparent connection to the Church of Ascendants.

The base weapons and tools will have a "signature mark 3 look"

It will be a red 3 sticker. It looks like red will be this games color, much like bright pink was Hitman 2's color.

• Jossed. Mark 3 equipment does appear, but this time around, each piece of gear has its own unique appearance this time around.

The game would be much Darker and Edgier than the first two instalments

The little in-jokes, fun gadgets and costumes and snappy dialogue would be cut down in favour of a more serious, dramatic storyline.

• Confirmed.

The Constant's plan involves his death

• Jossed.

At some point, the Constant would kidnap one of the protagonists

• Confirmed, he kidnaps 47 in the final mission to wipe his memory.

At one point, his polite demeanour will crack and the Constant would personally address Diana as either "Diana" or "Burnwood"

The Constant already refers to Diana by her surname in private and while mentioning her for the first time to 47. Should he undergo a Villainous Breakdown as his plans fall apart around him and threaten or fight Diana, he might snap at her and call her by her last name. Inversely, if his plans succeed (to a certain extent), he will similarly drop the formality.

• Jossed.

The white-shirted man in the Dubai level is Carl Ingram's son

• Jossed. He is actually Marcus Stuyvesant.

Each of the Partner levels would involve 47 assassinating the Partner and their one (adult) child

• Jossed. Marcus Stuyvesant and Carl Ingram are both targets in Dubai, but their family members are not.

47 and Diana will fail to completely bring down Providence by the game's end

• Jossed, Providence is taken down.

At the beginning of the game, Grey will replace Diana as 47's handler

Not in the sense that he'll take her job at the ICA or anything, but since he's probably cut off contact with Diana and Hall, it'll leave him to oversee 47 on their missions together.

• Jossed.

Some targets will be able to fight back

It's the grand finale of the trilogy started by the 2016 game, so naturally things should be a bit more dangerous (though you won't necessarily be required to engage in a proper fight). For example, if Lucas Grey ends up being a target, he really should be a dangerous foe, as he (like 47) is a product of Ort-Meyer.

• Confirmed, the ICA agents in the Berlin mission are armed.

There will be an openly LGBT+ character

With rather atrocious portrayals of gay and bisexual men in both Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution, the Ambiguously Gay Pavel Frydel and Sierra Knox in the two previous instalments could have been testing the waters.

• Confirmed with the Heartbreaker ET. The target, heavily implied to be bisexual himself, is showing around a lesbian couple. Also, several of Lust's admirers in "The Lust Assignation" are women.

There will be Multiple Endings, depending on 47's actions in the last level

• Half-confirmed. Whether you choose to execute the Constant, erase his mind or erase your (47's) own mind is up to you.

Diana will personally kill someone in the story

Having been noted as having "never technically killed someone", maybe she will finally get her hands dirty in the Grand Finale, especially if it's revenge for her family.

• Half-confirmed. There is an opportunity where she can stab Don Yates. However, 47 is ultimately the one who has to deal the finishing blow.

At some point, Victoria will appear or be mentioned

• Jossed.

Knight and Stone from the Sniper Assassin levels will appear

• Jossed.

At some point, someone will deliver the We Can Rule Together spiel to 47, Grey and/or Diana

• Confirmed. The Constant delivers one to both Diana and 47.

Alexa Carlisle will be the Big Bad or Final Boss

With Season 1 having Grey as the main antagonist and Season 2 having Edwards, Carlisle be the main villainess in the final season.

• Jossed. She is the target in the second mission.

Diana will fly into a rage or break down in tears at some point

With the trilogy reaching it's climax and 47 and Grey pretty much emotionless, Diana's the closest option the game has for an emotional outlet.

• Jossed, the closest she ever gets is a Tranquil Fury.

Sun Po is the current dictator of Khandanyang

• Jossed.

Alexa Carlisle is the murderer (or at least a possible murderer) in the Dartmoor level

• Jossed

The Dartmoor murder victim is Alexa Carlisle's husband

• Jossed. He is her brother.

The Dartmoor murder victim really did kill himself

• Jossed, but you can frame it as so

Mark Faba will be the first elusive target of Hitman 3

• Jossed.

There won't be a celebrity elusive target

To save money for future endeavors.

• Confirmed.

James Bond will make a cameo or be referenced

So IOI can drum up interest for their new project.

• Jossed

The gun Grey handed to Diana in the "Precautions" cutscene will be used

• Jossed, it's never used again.

The Constant is a Well-Intentioned Extremist

In the leaked end cutscene of Dubai, he calls Diana and tells her that "Providence can be an agent of change". This implies that his scheme to usurp the Partners is not entirely self-serving.

• Background dialogue in Mendoza implies that the Constant's master plan is to transform Providence into a fully legal, entirely official supra-national corporate entity by merging all the corporations under its control under a single roof, which would in effect lead to the creation of world's first sovereign corporate state.
• With all being said and done, the Constant's plan does appear to be actually be entirely self-serving, so, presumably Jossed.

Diana will be a target, VIP or NPC in The Farewell

She is seen in the first trailer and in a promotional photo.

• Confirmed. She is a VIP.

Post-release/In-game theories

47 died at the end of The Farewell, the rest of the game was his Dying Dream.

Mr. Fernsby has an Embarrassing First Name.

Possibly a Gender-Blender Name like Leslie or Ashley. Whatever it is, Fernsby keeps it a secret, thus his forename not appearing in Contracts mode.

Diana knew 47 killed her parents all along

It seems unlikely that Diana wouldn't at least try to use the ICA's resources to track down her parents' murderer. If she realized it was 47, she'd probably blame Providence for hiring him, rather than 47 himself. Choosing to be 47's handler and using his skills to kill evil people instead of innocents, and eventually hunt down Providence, might have seemed like Laser-Guided Karma.

• Given that they speak to one another in the ending, it's clear their partnership was unaffected. Diana was just keeping up appearances at the vineyard, and essentially does a Double Speak apology; noting that he was not responsible for her parents death; he was just being contracted to do what he was told. As for Diana doing research on her parents' killer, it's possible she tried, but the evidence of what went down would've been covered up, blown to smithereens with the car and up in smoke. There wouldn't be much of a starting point, the only clue she ever got was that Blue Seed were the ones who ordered the hit, and the only copy of such a hit existing would be with Providence and The Institute. Alternatively, Sodors stonewalled her and cited the whole "don't use our systems for personal gain" rule as a reason, and given her trust in him in 1999 onward, she wouldn't have questioned it.

After Diana dismantled Providence, she and 47 tried to go straight.

47 probably tried to find another humble church or rural establishment to lay low at while Diana probably tried to start a business or sorts. But after being threatened by what remained of Providence, they contacted each other and returned back to assassination.

• 47 made the decision, for the first time ever, to continue being a hitman for hire, in part to make sure Providence remains dead. The upcoming Freelancer mode seems to suggest they're just killing whoever contacts them, so 47 is very much still active.

The Baskerville Barney was an alternative universe where 47 performed an overly elaborate Revenge by Proxy on Alexa Carlisle

The ICA executed Jiao after the events of Apex Predator

Possibly even killed by one of her surviving agents.

Jiao's full name is Clera Jiao

"Clera" was an alias Dolores Powell used

Joanna Bayswater is Cassandra Murphy from Hitman: Enemy Within

They both have green eyes, they're both British, and it looks like plastic surgery has been done. On the run from Puissance Treize after the unfortunate events of Enemy Within, Murphy murdered the original Joanna Bayswater and assumed her identity. Soon after, she joined another assassination agency, undergone Sanity Slippage and betrayed them. Bayswater's biography is heavily redacted because Murphy made sure to cover her tracks.

Deadly Sins elusive targets

As of this writing, Sloth had just been announced.

• Sloth: An Upper-Class Twit, killed in a company power struggle or to inherit a fortune.
  • Jossed, it is a negligent safety inspector.
• Lust: A rapist, Serial Rapist and/or Black Widow.
  • Jossed, it is a Serial Killer wedding planner.
• Gluttony: A cannibalistic Serial Killer.
  • Half-confirmed. It is a celebrity chef and the embalmer that he outsources his "ingredients" from, but they are not serial killers.
• Envy: A rival hitman or hitwoman, an influencer, the relative of an heir/heiress or the vice president or second-in-command of an organisation.
  • Jossed. It is a professional con artist.
• Wrath: A hot-tempered Bad Boss celebrity, crime boss, Mad Scientist, terrorist or assassin. And seeing that all the past targets have been Caucasian, the Wrath ET would be Chinese.
  • Jossed. It's a boxer-turned-fugitive, and it's a white man.

Diana was physically disfigured and/or crippled after taking control of Providence

Hence her wanting to avoid meeting 47 in-person.

Emma Carlisle divorced her husband after Death in a Family

Alexa Carlisle's bodyguard killed Emma after Alexa's death

Patrick Carlisle is the product of an affair

If for some reason, Emma is opposed to being impregnated by her first cousin, she could have had an affair with a manservant or something and passed the baby off as Gregory's. That would explain why Patrick isn't physically deformed.

Alexa and her brother Zachary were in an incestous relationship

Possibly sexually abusive on Alexa's side, leading to their estrangement.

Edwards simply continued Janus' plans

After starting the Ark Society, Janus wanted to do the same on a larger scale with a country. Edwards was to follow through on his plans (thus the "I will finish what you started" while speaking at his funeral), but had to improvise after he was kidnapped.

Hall freed Edwards

• Due to not trusting 47 and Diana and feeling that Grey had abandoned their principles by working with the people who murdered her colleagues, Edwards managed to convince her to free him by promising her money. She managed to frame (and possibly kill) a crew member. Hall is not accompanying 47, Grey and Diana when Diana calls him Mr Edwards, so her confusion is real. She works with 47 later out of self-preservation and ditches him when her safety from the ICA. She helps him track down Diana to atone for indirectly getting Grey killed and as thanks for dismantling the ICA.
  • Jossed. She was at her computer on the boat when he escaped; and Diana was even there overseeing her waiting for 47 and Grey to return. He was freed by a sailor, which is one hell of a Handwave, but the games had already established how Edwards can read people on thin information, and that can be very threatening, so it's not exactly implausible.
  • It's possible she spoke to Edwards offscreen to interrogate or feed him and lied that a crew member freed him.
  • It's possible she continued to work with Edwards even after Grey's death. Either to prevent the ICA from killing her or under Edwards' orders so Diana wouldn't be threatened, Hall took down the ICA, proclaiming it'll be the last job she'll do with him so she could contact Edwards more easily. He then ordered her to direct 47 to Mendoza so Diana could corner him.

Grey and Hall planned to kill Diana

Diana holds a lot of influence over 47 and was reluctant to join them in the first place. They may also resent her for lecturing them despite coming from privileged background. Grey and Hall thought that she may attempt to end her and 47's partnership after assassinating the Partners or even turn on them and betray 47. To keep 47 to themselves, they planned to ax her after killing Carlisle, probably planning to frame it as an accident or on Providence forces, but the Constant kidnapping her and Grey's death obviously threw a wrench in their plans.

Angus Pritchard was Chairman of the ICA board

Sequel theories

Future locations

• America.
• Russia.
• Scotland.
• Australia.
• Singapore.
• South Korea.

Future levels

• An airport.
• A cruise ship.
• A space station.

Future main villains

• A former ICA agent or group of ICA agents seeking revenge on 47 and Diana for their betrayal.
  • Possibly Knight, Stone and the rest of Initiative 426.
• A former ICA handler or group of ICA handlers.
  • Possibly Jiao, Clera or someone Diana was training to be her protégé.
• A former ICA director. Supplementary materials make them out to be crime lords and influential figures in their own right.
• A CIA or MI6 agent.
• A former member of Providence.
• Another clone brother/sister of 47's.
• An old friend of Diana's.
• A political conspiracy.
• A drug cartel.
• Khandanyang.
• A human trafficking ring.
• A thief gang.
• An assassination agency.
• Liberation.

47 will use "Lucas Grey" as an alias

Diana still rules over Providence as Constant, running it as a Benevolent Conspiracy

• Jossed; Providence was completely destroyed.

Providence is an Expy of the Illuminati in-universe as well

Conspiracy theories related to the Illuminati and the Eye of Providence date back to the early 19th century, but Providence was formed after World War 2, so Providence was not the inspiration for those theories - perhaps, then, the first Partners deliberately based their name and iconography on conspiracy theories that already existed, to ensure anybody who tried to reveal their existence would appear to be a crackpot.