How will James Bond return?

Where the James Bond film franchise should go next

With 2022’s No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s run playing James Bond came to an end. Within the next couple of years, we’ll certainly see a new version of the famous fictional British spy. That intellectual property is way too valuable to let sit on the shelf for too long.

Inevitably, the next question becomes “what should they do with it?”

Right now, I want to get beyond just thinking about who will be the next actor to play James Bond. While that’s an important question to be answered, perhaps what’s even more important is to determine the path and and tone for the next installments.

The Mission: Impossible Model

The Mission: Impossible franchise has become the chief competitor to James Bond in terms of an action/espionage film series. There are certainly elements of the Bond franchise in these films (spies, global stakes, exotic locations) but there are some clear differences. One thing worth bringing up—there’s an emphasis on the stunts and action at the expense of anything related to character development in the Mission:Impossible films. That sounds a bit condescending or harsh, but it’s ultimately the truth. Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is almost an idea more than a character. To be certain, James Bond is not a… realistic character but he’s someone who you can identify as a character rather than just as the actor portraying him.

However, leaning into the elements of the Mission: Impossible films that have made them so popular (namely, the spectacle of them and their stunts) could be an interesting course for Bond to go down. This would also lead the films to be a bit lighter and more “fun” in a way that they got away from for much of the Craig films. The Craig films were the perfect time to get serious, perhaps it’s a time to get a little less serious and have a little more fun.

Even Darker

The Craig films were praised as being darker and more serious than pretty much any other installment in the Bond franchise. One might expect what comes next to go in a different direction in terms of the tone. However, maybe that’s not the play.

I think about Batman and how even after Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy they were still able to go further with Matt Reeves’ The Batman. I’m not sure what this would look like in film form for James Bond, but one could certainly imagine these films getting even more serious (or at least staying at the same level of seriousness).

If they were looking to split the difference of the Mission: Impossible approach but a little darker or more serious, perhaps the John Wick films might provide a tone and path forward. If the franchise was able to get Christopher Nolan to direct, I could also see the franchise going this route in a kind of Tenet/Inception mashup.

Period Piece

This is my preferred choice. Return to the 1950s-early 1960s, the time when Ian Fleming’s novels were written, and do a proper adaptation of them. While the novel were obviously adapted into films in the series prior to Daniel Craig’s run, the filmmakers took liberties in the adaptation and certainly got away from the source material. While what they eventually produced was quite good and led to one of the greatest film series ever, it meant that more straight forward adaptations of the novel remained as an option. It might mean a little bit less action, but it would be something different and with the potential to be quite beautiful from a visual perspective.

Think about something like The Crown or Mad Men, but then applied to James Bond? It would also give you some choices in terms of the tone—there would be room to be slick and fun but also, and perhaps more intuitively, the potential to stay on that darker and more serious path that the Craig films got us started on.

The Next Question

This all leads to the question—”who should play James Bond next?” I’ll throw this question out to you all as you also think about what route the franchise should go down next. Who would be best if they go a more stunt-heavy route? The period piece? Let me know in the comments below!