‘The Gray Man‘ stars Ryan Gosling as Sierra Six, a prisoner who’s recruited into the CIA and becomes an assassin. His mentor, Billy Bob Thornton’s Fitzroy, tasks Six with looking after Claire, the older agent’s niece. During this time, she asks him why his name is Six. 

Gosling’s character jokingly says that 007 was taken, referring to the British spy James Bond, popularized in Ian Fleming’s books and subsequent movies. 

Sierra Six actually refers to Gosling’s character being the sixth member of the Sierra program, which was started to recruit people out of prisons and train them to become elite killing machines, to do the CIA’s dirty work where the agency couldn’t officially send anyone. 

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There were half a dozen people in the program with news emerging that the rest had burned out or been jailed. Six was the last of the “dirty half dozen”, and the way he conducts himself vindicates that the program was a success. 

In ‘The Gray Man’, we see another Sierra agent – Four – who Gosling’s character makes short work of, in Bangkok. While the Sierra program doesn’t actually exist, the US intelligence agency reportedly tried to turn prisoners in Guantanamo into double agents, as per an ex-official. 

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Gosling’s character is actually named Court Gentry, which is how viewers are introduced to him when he’s imprisoned. During his life in the CIA, he drops his name and takes on the moniker. The kind of work Six does is in the shadows, and it serves him well to remain a ghost. 

The Sierra program targeted those with no families and hard backgrounds since there wouldn’t be much liability and they’d be more willing to be a part of the secret op. Gosling’s character fits the bill and after undergoing training, he becomes Sierra Six, the man on whom the CIA doesn’t have a file.