No Time to Die: Daniel Craig Reveals Why He Wanted His James Bond to Die

The 007 franchise shocked fans last year by doing the unthinkable: Killing off James Bond. The iconic secret agent has been the focal point of 25 movies and has been played by several different actors over time. When one actor retires, another one simply steps in and the franchise takes a new approach to the material. Things changed with Daniel Craig’s version of the character. No Time to Die was Craig’s fifth and final outing as Bond, and it ended with 007 sacrificing his own life to save others, assuring that this version was completely finished.

The creative team fought to keep Bond’s death at the end and it seems as though Craig did the same. The actor revealed in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times that he was a big supporter of his Bond dying at the end of No Time to Die. For Craig, one of the main reasons he liked the ending was that it kept the door closed for any potential comeback in the future. He was ready to hang the tuxedo up and didn’t want to be asked about it for the rest of his career.

“Two things, one for myself and one for the franchise,” Craig said. “I was like, ‘Well, you need to reset again.’ So let’s kill my character off and go find another Bond and go find another story. Start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30.”

“The other was so that I could move on,” he continued. “I don’t want to go back. I suppose I should be so lucky if they were to ask me back, but the fact is I need to move on from it. The sacrifice that he makes in the movie was for love, and there’s no greater sacrifice. So it seemed like a good thing to end on.”

Craig starred in a total of five James Bond films, beginning with Casino Royale in 2006. After his fourth film, Spectre, was released in 2015, Craig announced plans to leave the franchise. He was eventually brought back for one final outing, allowing them to give his take on the character a complete ending.

What did you think of Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond? Who do you think should take on the role next? Let us know in the comments!