James Bond producers “haven’t even begun” work on new 007
It’s been two years since we last saw James Bond in No Time to Die, the epic swansong and farewell to the Daniel Craig-era 007 directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Although speculation about who could play the next British secret agent continues to run rife, producers have clarified that they “haven’t even begun” working on the next instalment.
Producer Barbara Broccoli, who runs the Bond estate along with her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, has revealed how far away we might be from seeing our next Bond whilst promoting the new Bond-themed series, Amazon Prime’s 007’s Road to a Million.
Speaking to The Guardian, Broccoli confirmed that there was a “big road ahead” before Bond could be “reinvented for the next chapter”, asserting that the next movie would have to reflect how the world has changed in the two decades since Craig took over.
“I go back to [1995’s] GoldenEye when everyone was saying ‘the cold war is over, the wall is over,” Broccoli explained, referring to the character’s ability to transcend eras. “Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world’s at peace, and now there’s no villains’ – and boy, was that wrong!”
Stating that, with Craig, they “wanted to focus on what a 21st-century hero would look like”, Broccoli added, “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.”
In the meantime, 007 fans can have their appetites satiated by the new reality show, which marks the first time the Bond franchise has been used for something other than feature films. Featuring contestants enduring physical and psychological trials in Bond-esque settings to win £1million, Broccoli has said the show has 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.”
Regarding Bond himself, however, fans should expect to see him solely on the big screen. “We make the Bond movies for the big theatrical screen, and everything about the Bond movies is for audiences to see around the world on that format, so we’ve not wanted to do television,” Broccoli said. “Our focus is making the feature films. When we get going on a Bond movie, it takes our full attention for three or four years, so that’s our focus.”
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