The producers behind James Bond have said that they “haven’t even begun” the process of moving the franchise into the post-Daniel Craig era.
Barbara Broccoli, who helms the Bond estate along with her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, was speaking ahead of the release of the Bond-themed Prime Video reality series 007: Road to a Million.
She told The Guardian there is “a big road ahead” for them, adding that the Bond character will be “reinvented for the next chapter” when he does return.
Daniel Craig attends event to celebrate 60 years of James Bond, November 2022 (Photo by Mike Marsland/Getty)
She stressed that their goal is for the next incarnation of the legendary film character to reflect how the world has changed since Craig first appeared in the role in 2006.
“[We] wanted to focus on what a 21st-century hero would look like,” she said. “Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it. I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”
Reflecting on how Craig himself played a role in modernising the franchise, she added: “I go back to GoldenEye when everyone was saying ‘the cold war is over, the wall is over, Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world’s at peace and now there’s no villains’ – and boy was that wrong!”
Craig’s fifth and final Bond film was No Time to Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, released in 2021. A number of stars have been rumoured as Craig’s successor, including Aaron Taylor Johnson, Regé-Jean Page and Damson Idris.
In September, it was reported that Christopher Nolan was in talks to direct the next two Bond films, although it was said that negotiations had been delayed by the Hollywood strikes and the director’s promotional commitments to Oppenheimer. Nolan had previously said it would be “an amazing privilege” to direct a James Bond film.
007: Road to a Million will launch on Prime Video on November 10, and it will feature nine pairs of people enduring physical and psychological challenges in Bond-related locations to win £1 million. It is the first time the official Bond brand has been allowed to be used in non-scripted television.
Broccoli said the show will have the “same ethos of heroism, courage and fortitude we do in the movies … I think it’s really good entertainment and that’s what people need”.
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