Reel Facts & Opinions: The Next James Bond

Every ten years or so, the question of who will be the next James Bond comes up; a question that arises whenever the current actor either steps down, gets too old, or is simply handed a pink slip. The current holder of Agent 007 has been Daniel Craig, and speculation and uncertainty of his continuing involvement has been going on for a solid two years, owed to no official announcement from Craig or MGM.

All that endless speculation and constant “will he or won’t he” articles may have finally come to an end this week, when Craig announced to the world during his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he would indeed, for one last time, be returning as Bond. This would make his next appearance his fifth as 007, which is the third-most, behind Sean Connery and Roger Moore (seven appearances).

The announcement counters Craig’s statements from two years ago, when he frequently commented on how difficult it was to film a James Bond movie due to the physical requirements (Craig will be 50 years old by the time he would begin filming). In a current Hollywood where younger is always getting most of the attention, and roles for men (and women) over 50 can be hard to come by, keeping Bond as an older gentleman, which is how the character has always been accepted, is a good thing. Since taking over the role from Pierce Brosnan in 2006, Craig has played the part with a nice balance of British gentleman and hardened killer; two important traits for a spy in the employ of her Majesty’s Secret Service.

But Craig’s tenure as James Bond has seen its ups and downs. After a spectacular debut with the most-excellent CASINO ROYALE in 2006, things got weird with the bizarre QUANTUM OF SOLACE in 2008. In 2012 his Bond may have peaked with the Oscar-nominated SKYFALL, only to hit bottom again with the troubled SPECTRE in 2015. It almost seems like the odd-numbered Bond films in Craig’s era are the good ones, which means his fifth has hope.

The films that struggled had little to do with Craig and his performance, but with ridiculous scripts and confused tone; SPECTRE for instance couldn’t decide if it wanted to embrace the camp of the Moore era or keep it real-world. While this Blogger has loved Craig in the role, it does seem like a fresh start is due. Where to go next? Here’s an idea…

The image on the left is Bond-creator Ian Fleming’s original sketch for James Bond, and the image on the right is this Blogger’s choice for the next 007, Michael Fassbender. The resemblance is amazing. And this Blogger also proposes that a new Bond series should be set in the 1960’s. That would give the series a unique identity, and also give the filmmakers the freedom to have fun with gadgets again (Bond gadgets aren’t that impressive in this modern, technology-dominated age).

But until then, let’s hope Daniel Craig is given a worthy sendoff before hanging up his tux.

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The 25^th Bond film is slated for a November 2019 release.