James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has revealed where the popular spy movie franchise is currently at with preparations for its next instalment.
Daniel Craig bowed out of the titular role two years ago after a 15-year run that spanned six films – Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time To Die (2021).
Craig's tenure was a popular one with fans, and replacing him will not be an easy task.
There has also often been sizeable gaps between different Bond eras, including the six-year gap between Timothy Dalton's last 007 film, 1989's License to Kill and Pierce Brosnan's first film, 1995's Goldeneye.
There was a four-year gap, meanwhile, between Brosnan's fourth and final film – 2002's Die Another Day and Craig's first, Casino Royale.
Promoting her new 007-inspired reality series 007: Road to a Million, which debuts on Amazon Prime Video on November 10, Broccoli addressed both the challenges of casting and of reinventing a character that was first introduced 70 years ago.
The filmmaker explained that when they cast Craig, they were aiming to "focus on what a 21st-century hero would look like".
"Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it," 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!
"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," she said.
