That is a splendid idea.
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Probably clickbait, but an intriguing idea.
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Itās been a while indeed. And oh, how did I miss those well researched examples of high quality journalism. 
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Not much meat on that bone.
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My two cents on where Bond should go from here:
Were it up to me, Iām in the camp of wanting stand-alone missions set in the present day. Bond as weāve always known him, as if the Craig era happened in āthe other roomā so to speak (but with a few of the Craig era flourishes, maybe). Ideally Live And Let Die, The Living Daylights or GoldenEye would be the ideal template.
My hunch is that Eon wonāt go in that direction. I donāt know exactly what they have in mind, but I feel like weāre still not going to know for quite some time.
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No thankyou on every level.
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No thank you. Sounds like it would be The Exorcist: Believer of Bond films, in terms of someone taking on a source material that they clearly donāt understand, which is what it sounds like based on that quote.
Delving back into Bondās past or to make the next one a period piece in any way would essentially be putting nails into the coffin of the franchise.
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Yeah, that quote is scary, particularly the last line: āThere has to be something there.ā Spoken by someone who clearly has no idea what to do or who Bond is. Thatās a hard pass from me.
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Snyder is off the mark here. I donāt mind Young Bond as a literary brand, but I have no interest with live action, and I think audiences would be of the same opinion.
The trauma aspect of Bond is there but thereās a risk of overplaying that hand - to the point it makes the character one note. The fact of the matter is Bond indulges in luxury brands, international travel and beautiful company - it is possible for him to enjoy himself. Letās see more of that.
Skyfall touched upon young Craig Bondās childhood enough for my liking, and even that would be too much for some people. A brooding look while holding a martini glass often says more than any piece of dialogue can - a reboot doesnāt mean we have to introduce Bond again from an even earlier point than Casino Royale (2006) ever did. Give me the fully formed man ready for action.
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We have had enough trauma, not just in the Craig era.
Now, letās have fun again.
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Thisā
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There will no doubt be some form of trauma for Bond to have to deal with. Itās the only thing that this current regime at EON knows, plus itās been validated by both critics and general audiences throughout the Craig era in addition to the appearances we saw that trope make during the Brosnan era as well.
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You can have a trauma without it all being dark and broody and slow motion hair flips (oh, Hi Zack!)
Bond arguably has with how Tracyās death was used in TSWLM and FYEO. Hell, even Kingsman starts with the death of the main characters dad, then goes into the abusive relationship with the motherās boyfriend and follows it with the murder of the father figure, yet that film is mostly described as over the top fun.
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Iām sorry that post, everyone. Zack Snyder should only make his own projects. I still hold him partially responsible for the DCEU failing. WB shouldnāt have hired him, if they wanted to have crowd pleasers. They should have realized how controversial he can be.
As for Young Bond, I could go either way. Itās getting tiring too have Bondās (or Mās) past coming back to haunt them.
It was Snyderās quote. In this news starved part of the cycle itās good to have something to discuss. Iāve found it interesting that the subject of Bondās ātraumaā is something everyone here agrees on.
Iām all for Bond having a past, but Iām only really interested in his past as an agent. Heās a veteran, even before he was a double-oh he would have been with Mi6 in some capacity. I do enjoy little glimpses into Bondās past mission. Sometimes itās a hotel heās visited before and knows the concierge by name. Maybe a local contact or fellow agent heās worked with before, or someone like Zukovsky heās previously crossed paths with. But it works better if these are brief hints of a career beyond what weāve seen rather than laying it all out.
Iām certainly not interested in young Bond. Iāve found prequel stories and origins to be really played out. Show us Bond being Bond.
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The element of trauma is perhapsā¦debatable.
Fleming drew Bond after his own model. With some licence and romanticization. Fleming lost his father in the First World War when he was not yet nine years old, undoubtedly a tragic and traumatic loss even if children in Flemingās family had a significantly different relationship with their parents than we would expect today, over 100 years later and in very different circumstances.
But the resulting ātraumaā with Fleming seems to have been more in his relationship with his mother and his inability to emancipate his own life from her expectations, perhaps also because he wasnāt given a chance to differentiate himself from the war hero āĆ¼ber-fatherā. Much of Flemingās misery in his life seems to result from this basic need to be accepted on his own terms - that was apparently never quite satisfied in his private life.
No such traces are to be found in Casino Royale and subsequent books. The early Bond is simply a guy good at his profession and enjoying himself as best he can. Because he doesnāt have to live up to anybodyās expectations. Fleming wrote him this way to escape his own prosaic life - and give us the same chance - not perpetuate his domestic horrors into the Bond sphere.
One might even suspect, when Fleming finally addresses Bondās past in You Only Live Twice, and explains Bond grew up with his aunt because he lost both parents, this, too, was a kind of avoiding the relentless pressures for Bond he himself faced in his own life.
When we read about that loss of his parents we can assume this affected Bond - but would we really have suspected such a backstory if that hadnāt been in Mās Times piece? I donāt think so. Reading Bondās adventures right up until On Her Majestyās I would have said his worst traumatic experience was being tortured in Casino Royale. And probably nothing before that.
Bond doesnāt need a trauma to join the Service. His country was at war and heād soon enough have been drafted anyway. By using his connections he just ended up in an outfit where his talents were put to better use, not to treat a psychological condition. That SKYFALL played the trauma card (and addressed Mās recruiting pattern) was a logical, intriguing step - but is nowhere mirrored in the canon.
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Perfectly stated.
Also, for a soldier or a double O, trauma comes every day. It seems to be this uneducated obsession with monocausal reasons for behavior which drives contemporary blockbusters.
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