With the Craig era coming to a conclusion, we not only face the question who should play the next Bond, but also in which direction the series should go.
I put this into the NTTD spoiler section for now (as it could be difficult to discuss certain aspects without spoilering NTTD), will be moved to the forthcoming B26 section later.
So, what do you think?
Just go on with the show, ignore the Craig era and proceed as usual?
The Bobby Ewing solution?
Start from scratch with a new 007 winning his license again?
Or should they now start remaking the old ones, or faithful adaptions of the novels, maybe even delve into continuation novel territories?
Would it be better to keep the Bond movies taking place in present day (or five minutes into the future), or would it be a good idea to give people back their fatherâs (or grandfatherâs) Bond, go the retro route and make them as period pieces?
So many options, and certainly much more opinions. Whatâs yourâs?
My immediate gut says back to business as normal, ignoring this continuity. Ideally Iâd like to see a gradual build up of Spectre from shadowy presence to full on Blofeld face off. I suspect I may be on my own there however!
Soft reboot, in the way Moore/Dalton/Brosnan. Make a purely stand alone adventure, allowing Craigâs run to be a mini-series of its own. Itâs better for Bond 7, as it shows heâs not Craigâs Bond, and in no way is trying to be.
I want the next one to open on a swanky bedroom. The door creeps open as an unseen figure slowly enters, the shadow casting large over the occupants on the bed. Suddenly the Dou Dou comes crashing down on Bondâs head, jerking him awake to find Mathilde standing beside the bed laughing as Daniel Craig sits up, pulling his daughter into a hug. Swann then wakes up and Bond informs her that he just had the most horrible nightmare.
Itâs a tough ask given the amount of ground covered by the Craig era, but I think they should create a new narrative which could sustain 3-4 films with the next Bond, introducing a new nemesis who can reoccur as needed.
They need to a make a fresh backstory which doesnât lean on the major Craig plot points - Vesper, Madeleine, Mr White. I also think the DB5 probably needs to be retired at this stage. Thereâs only so many times it can be bashed up and repaired.
As to whether they continue with Fiennes, Whishaw, Harris and Tanner - Iâm happy enough to keep them going. Theyâre all excellent in the roles and it would be a shame to jettison them just for the sake of an entirely clean slate.
The next era should start with a Bond whoâs already established in his job. James Bond does not need an origin and is only diminished by efforts to give him one. I donât want to see him âgrow into the job,â I want to see him competent from day one.
He should be assgined to a high-stakes mission and this time it is NOT personal.
Treat each new film as a stand-alone story, not reliant on the previous entry for direction or, as has more often been the case, hobbled by the need to âfixâ it.
Much as Iâd like to see a âperiod pieceâ Bond set in the 1950s, thereâs no way EON would ever spend that kind of money without being able to offset the cost with product placements, and nobodyâs going to pony up the cash to push Studebakers and bakelite radios. For sure Iâd want to avoid the 60s, for fear of giving the impression the Connery/Lazenby years are being ârewritten.â So that leaves us with a contemporary setting, which is fine.
Iâd personally love the series to return to âone-and-doneâ stories, some being more light hearted, some being more serious. I donât need or want multi film arcs.
Something with the Craig era that has struck me is how influenced by other franchises the films seemed to be: CR ('06) influenced by Batman Begins ('05), QoS ('08) influenced by Bourne ('02-'07), Skyfall ('12) influenced by The Dark Knight ('08), and Spectre and NTTD influenced by the Marvel/Expanded Universe trend. For as original the Craig era is heralded as it was quite reactionary to cinematic trends. The current cinematic climate still seems to be very âworld buildingâ and âconnected universeâ centred so I wonder if thatâs a hint that the next era of Bond films will be interconnected.
The upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series is making a point of being episodic (quite unique for a TV series these days, and something Iâm very excited for), so perhaps stand alone stories may be be coming back into fashionâŚ
Put me down for this too, and set in the modern day.
The âcodename theoryâ is an annoying and pointless discussion that I believe has still never been validated. Craigâs Bond is a seperate universe and another will begin.
I would not want yet another âorigin storyâ with a young OO making his way up.
But I most of all would not want a "Is Bond relevant? / Can he be trusted? " type of plot as weâve had non-stop since DAD.
Whatever route they go, I want to see Bond being Bond, being the best at what he does, and doing it with style.
When Roger Moore took over everybody made the deliberate decision to set him apart from Connery.
And with Craig now being considered as the most influential since Connery it would be the wisest idea to follow the example of Moore.
There might even be actors who donât want to be too serious as Bond. But they all will want the character and the films to have a certain gravitas⌠and Oscar winners as villains.
Me, I want stand alone adventures, no explaining how Bond became Bond (itâs been done anyway - and how could one tell that in a different way without us thinking of CR?), and a new Mi6 crew because one M being different in two eras was fine, but Moneypenny, Q and Tanner being now different versions as well⌠how could that be pulled off?
Hey, what if they found a way to tell us that Bond is actually not dead? He made a miraculous last-second escape and now itâs business as usual for new adventures?..
Just joking of course. Even if they wanted to do that, and I strongly doubt it, Bond is too much of a wreak anyway in NTTD (which is one of my main issues) to just go on for around round.
Donât forget that in the Craigverse, Bond was already âbroken downâ and âover the hillâ at the start of Skyfall, which means heâs been running on fumes for two and a half films already. So unless theyâre planning to cast another 50-someting actor to follow him, thereâs no way to build on that continuity.
I donât see that being too far fetched, maybe Bond 7 quips on how he escaped the island in the Nick of time. Just a reference made in passing if they donât go back for a reboot that is.
