James Bond is starting from the bottom again.
Producer Barbara Broccoli confirmed that the next 007 film will be a total “reinvention” of the famed spy and that casting hasn’t even begun yet.
“Nobody’s in the running,” Broccoli revealed during a BFI Fellowship dinner, via Deadline. “We’re working out where to go with him, we’re talking that through. There isn’t a script and we can’t come up with one until we decide how we’re going to approach the next film because, really, it’s a reinvention of Bond. We’re reinventing who he is and that takes time.”
According to Broccoli, “filming is at least two years away” for the next Bond installment.
Daniel Craig’s Bond character was killed off in “No Time to Die,” with a real-life tombstone marking Bond’s final resting place in the Faroe Islands after succumbing to villain Safin, played by Rami Malek. Craig portrayed Bond in five films, starting with “Casino Royale.”
There has been much debate over who should take over the reins as Bond in the next iteration of the franchise, which has seen the likes of Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton portray the Ian Fleming-penned hero. Lashana Lynch even took over the 007 title at the start of “No Time to Die.”
Producer Broccoli previously said that the next James Bond will definitely be a man since a woman should not play the fictional character.
“I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles,” Broccoli said in a Hollywood Reporter profile. “I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”
Broccoli continued in a later interview with Variety that deciding who should be the next Bond is a “big decision” for the direction of the franchise, now owned by Amazon since the conglomerate purchased MGM. “It’s not just casting a role. It’s about a whole rethink about where we’re going,” Broccoli said, as reports speculated Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, and “Euphoria” star Jacob Elordi were on the shortlist for the role. Broccoli specifically shared that Elba has been “part of the conversation” for years.
Ultimately, producer Broccoli put off the decision to announce a new Bond until far after Craig’s turn had ended.
“I think we have decided that until ‘No Time to Die’ has had its run, and Daniel has been able to — well, we’ve all been able to savor, reap the benefits of Daniel’s wonderful tenure, we’re not going to think about, or talk about, anybody else, actors to play the role, or storylines, or anything really,” she said earlier this year. “We just want to live in the moment.”
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