James Bond Exec Updates Search for Daniel Craig’s 007 Successor

Regardless of any rumors or fancasting you might have heard, the search is still very much on for Daniel Craig’s replacement as James Bond. According to MGM chief Pamela Abdy, who works with longtime Bond directors Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson on the franchise, few moves have been made yet, with any conversations going on being called “preliminary.” Why? Well, pretty simply put, the trio wanted to let No Time to Die have its moment, and for the audience to say goodbye to Daniel Craig, rather than turning the search for a new Bond into the main story.

It makes sense; even with no announcements, each time somebody becomes a strong candidate in the press, the story takes over for a day or two. And there were four years between the last appearance of Pierce Brosnan and the first appearance of Daniel Craig, after all.

“It’s wide open,” Adby told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’ve had very early preliminary conversations with Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [Wilson], but we wanted Daniel to have his last hurrah.”

MGM is also at a crossroads right now, in that it has been rumored for a few months that the venerable studio might become an acquisition of Amazon, who would presumably want to take control of some of the beloved franchises that MGM controls — not just Bond, but things like the Rocky movies and Legally Blonde, as well. There might not yet be a new James Bond named, but there is a Creed III (directed by Michael B. Jordan) and Legally Blonde 3 (from writers Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor) in preproduction already.

A popular idea for Bond is to replace the character either with an actor of color, or a woman, which would lend the next batch of movies a different energy, and to that end, some have asked about the possibility of continuing Daniel Craig’s story by using Lashanna Lynch’s Nomi, who serves as the successor to Bond’s 007 codename following the spy’s retirement from MI6 in No Time to Die. This seems pretty farfetched, by Lynch won’t count out the possibility of showing up again if she is asked.

“I’m so attached to Nomi, obviously, as you can imagine, but I would love to reacquaint myself with her again,” Lynch confirmed with ComicBook.com. “I think for a character like that, it would be worth exploring, obviously. I do think, though, that if we never see her again, her introduction to the franchise and the way that she goes out is just so stylish and makes complete sense to the franchise and also nips things quite well in terms of what I’ve created for the world.”

In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

You can see No Time to Die in theaters now, or rent it via Theater At Home on digital platforms like Vudu and Amazon Prime Video.