Fans will have to wait a little longer for an update on which actor will replace Daniel Craig as James Bond.
“Nobody’s in the running,” longtime Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli revealed during a BFI Fellowship dinner, according to Deadline. Broccoli, whose father Sir Albert Broccoli first brought Ian Fleming’s British spy to the screen, now controls the franchise through her company, Eon Productions.
“We’re working out where to go with him, we’re talking that through,” Broccoli says. “There isn’t a script and we can’t come up with one until we decide how we’re going to approach the next film because, really, it’s a reinvention of Bond. We’re reinventing who he is and that takes time.”
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According to Broccoli, production on the next instalment of the franchise is “at least two years away”.
In “No Time To Die”, Craig’s Bond was killed off following a standoff with villain Saffin (Rami Malek). Co-star Ralph Fiennes, who was present at the BFI Fellowship dinner alongside Broccoli, quips that his character M, and Naomie Harris’s Moneypenny might be the ones to get a new 007 up to speed in the next film.
“Naomie and I are the people to fix it. You find him and we’ll train him,” he says.
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Speculation over the replacement of Craig, who portrayed James Bond in five chapters of the spy franchise, has seen various names thrown out since the actor announced he would be ending his run as 007. Everyone, from Idris Elba, Richard Madden, and Henry Cavill to Sam Heughan, Jacob Elordi, and Tom Hardy, has been mentioned when it comes to future Bond casting. While the idea of a female Bond has caused a stir — Gillian Anderson has expressed an interest — Broccoli previously stated that the role should go to a man, though he could be of any ethnicity, as long as he’s British.
“I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles,” Broccoli told the Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”
