It’s the news James Bond fans were waiting for. Daniel Craig finally confirmed that he will be returning one last time to play James Bond.
Tuesday night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Daniel Craig was the first guest out. He’s begun making the rounds to promote Steven Soderbergh’s Lucky Logan, which he plays a wacked out southern criminal. It’s a very different role than usual for Craig and it looks like he had a grand old time playing it.
But despite his looney performance, what’s been on most people’s minds and what they’ve wanted to ask him has been the question – are you going to do another James Bond movie or not?
Craig has been shrewd about giving a definitive answer about it for quite awhile. He’s done everything he could to be noncommittal about whether he would return as 007. It really must of worn the guy down to be so secretive for this long. He was probably relieved he finally got to confirm it and end with dodging the question.
With the job of promoting his newest film upon him, the question was inevitably going to be asked over and over again. Which of course it already has. Just the day before he admitted he was tapping around the big question in interviews.
Not surprisingly, it was one of the first things Colbert asked him. Craig quickly put the issue to rest.
“I’ve been quite cagey about it,” Craig said. “But I kind of felt like, if I was going to speak the truth, I should speak the truth to you.”
At that point Colbert asked the all important question – “Daniel Craig, will you return as James Bond?”
And Craig answered a clear and concise, “Yes”.
And there you have it.
Craig further said he couldn’t be happier, he wants to go out on a high note and that he’s known of his return as 007 for a couple months now.
When he said he had always wanted to return to the role, Colbert reminded him of his infamous quote which he said he’d rather slash his wrists than play James Bond again.
That quote must of haunted Craig since it came out of his mouth during the Spectre promotion.
He explained the ‘slashing of the wrists’ comment as simply being a poor choice of words after having just finished the long and arduous shoot of Spectre.
“Look, there’s no point in making excuses about it, but it was two days after I finished shooting the last movie. I went straight to an interview, and someone said, ‘Would you do another one?’. Instead of saying something with style and grace, I gave a really stupid answer.”
Later during the interview Colbert asked Craig about his cameo appearance playing a stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Craig explained how that happened. He didn’t confirm if his stormtrooper would return in more Star Wars movies though.
So, Bond fans can now end with the rumors and speculation of whether Craig will return and put on hold trying to predict his potential successor just yet. Daniel Craig will be returning to play James Bond for his fifth and final time in Bond 25, which is due for release in November 2019.
Now fans can move their focus onto other looming questions – like who will be Craig’s co-stars, who’s going to play the villain, who will be the Bond Girl, what are the locations going to be, who’s going to direct. who will sing the theme song, will it follow up the story in Spectre?
There’s plenty to keep Bond fans heads busy until Bond 25 comes out.
So, how do fans feel about Craig’s confirmed return to playing James Bond for one last time?
I grew up with the two-year gap between Bond films- every other summer, in odd-numbered years, I could expect to go to the theater to see a James Bond thriller. Sure they were Roger Moore films and after “The Spy Who Loved Me” they were pretty damn bad, but they were reliable. In the Craig era I’ve had to get used to huge gaps between films, and I think it hurts the franchise with younger filmgoers. Kids aren’t going to grow up with Bond if he’s only around every 3-4 years. All that being said, give us a straight thriller without the personal angst we’ve been subjected to over the last four films (if Vesper is mentioned in the next one, I am going to lose it right there in the theater) and I’ll be satisfied.
Good, he needs to sign off with style. My pick for next James Bond is James Norton. Aidan Turner my second pick.
James Norton’s problem is that he looks about 20 years old. Aidan Turner is already 40, and with the next Bond likely to get his start in 2022, too old to launch a 3-4 film Bond series.
I’m very happy. Made my day when he confirmed it. I really hope he goes out on a high note, he deserves it.
How ironic. Pierce Brosnan wanted to do a fifth Bond movie but the producers said “No thanks. We’ll reboot.” Yet here we are years later with same producers saying “Forget a reboot. Bring back Craig for a fifth.”
Aiden Turner was my favorite, too. And as of now he’s only 34, not 40.