Daniel Craig has confirmed that he will star as iconic British 00 agent James Bond one last time in the upcoming 25th film in the long running series. For a while he’d been keeping quiet on the decision, but he made things official during an interview with Stephen Colbert on NBC’s The Late Show, but for us the real question is who the villain will be after the end of Blofelt in Spectre.
The host asked pretty brazenly whether or not he would be back as Bond and Craig responded yes and that he has known about the decision for a couple of months now. However, he also confirmed that the as yet untitled film will be his last as the Ian Fleming character, so hopefully it’s going to be one of ihs best performances to date.
The announcement is pretty timely with the film due for release in 2019, which only leaves a couple of years for the production to complete. With that timeline we expect filming to commence in the next six months, and we’ll be very surprised if the first shots of Daniel Craig back in the role and on set during filming once again don’t start doing the rounds before the end of the year.
Craig made his debut as Bond back in Casino Royale in 2006, which has gone down in history as one of the most impactful introduction for a new 007. He has since gone on to star in a further three films with Quantum Of Solace following fairly rapidly in 2008, Skyfall in 2012 and Spectre in 2015.
There are still no details about the story or the 25th James Bond movie and with the overarching Spectre saga seemingly brought to close now, were expecting a new direction for next story. There’s a big decision for the creators of the recent clutch of films in terms of the villain that will be pitted against Daniel Craig for his final hurrah as 007. Having featured old school Ian Fleming baddies Le Chiffre and Blofeld as well as brand-new villains like Javier Bardum’s Raoul Silva it could well be either option.
For us, the new James Bond films have been at their best when they are steeped in the history of Ian Fleming’s characters. We’re hoping the 25th film will do the same and feature an existing villain and give it the same kind of modern twist that Sam Mendes has done so well over the last five films.
Our particular shout for the next baddie is Skaramanga from The Man With The Golden Gun, but cast with a female lead to play the role made famous by Christopher Lee. They’re obviously big shoes to fill, but someone like Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig or Charlize Theron could work out well.
However, it would work well with a similar adaptation of another classic Live And Let Die with its voodoo enchantment and island paradise setting. Again it would be cool to see the villain played by great actresses like Rosario Dawson, Viola Davis or Ruth Negga in the role of Kananga, but obviously without the cliched stereotyping.
Having just seen Peter Mullan (Mum Series 2) in Ozark, he could be a dark horse choice, but we’d also put Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jean Dujardin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Harris and Jeffrey Rush into the mix. Benedict Cumberbatch would also make an excellent Bond villain, but he might be too busy for the role with Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 coming up.
