Daniel Craig Says He Will Miss Playing James Bond

This weekend represents the end of an era. While it’s been quite a while since Daniel Craig finished filming his last film as the iconic secret agent James Bond, the pandemic caused No Time to Die to push its release date back several times. On Friday, the film finally arrives in theaters, and it marks the last time fans will see Craig’s beloved portrayal of 007. Plenty of folks will certainly miss seeing Craig in the role, and the actor has made it clear that he’ll miss playing the character.

Ahead of No Time to Die‘s North American debut, Craig spoke with EW about his journey playing James Bond, which began with 2006’s Casino Royale. When asked what he’ll miss most about playing the iconic character, Craig explained that he’ll miss just about everything.

“I’ll miss everything, I think,” Craig said. “I’ll miss the collaboration. I mean, hopefully I’ll keep working and I’ll have lots of other lovely jobs, but it’s very, very, very rare air. Apart from Marvel movies, there aren’t movies that are as big as this. I’ve had the privilege of being involved in it. … It was there before me, and it will be there after me. But I’ve had a chance to be part of all of this, and if you can’t get it up for a Bond movie as an actor, what can you get it up for? So, yeah, I’ll miss it a lot.”

Craig’s tenure as James Bond has lasted for a total of five films. There seemed to be some frustration from the actor’s end after the completion of 2015’s Spectre, and it seemed as though that would be his last movie. However, a deal was reached for Craig to come back and make one more film to close out his story, and he’s definitely glad to have returned for the swan song.

“I finished that movie [Spectre] with a broken leg. I’m not moaning about that; it’s just the way it was,” Craig told EW. “I had to question myself: Was I physically capable of doing [another one], or did I physically want to do another one? Because that phone call to your wife [actress Rachel Weisz] saying ‘I’ve broken my leg’ is not pleasant. But I had a break. It was five years, and we had an idea, an idea that I’d had on Casino Royale. I spoke to Barbara [Broccoli, Bond franchise producer] about it, and she said, ‘Yeah, go for it.’ We expanded that idea, and that became the plot or became at least what we were aiming for, and I’m very, very, very happy we did.”

No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s final turn as James Bond, arrives in theaters on October 8th.