Daniel Craig Admits His True Feelings About James Bond Replacement
Daniel Craig opened up about what it will be like to see his James Bond replacement on the big screen. It might be a tough watch for Craig
This article is more than 2 years old
Daniel Craig is about to wrap up his time as James Bond and what a run it has been. When it is all said and done, Craig will go down as one of the best to take on the 007 role and this final movie looks like it pulls no punches when wrapping up the arc of his version of the character. In preparation for the No Time to Die release, Daniel Craig spoke on The Graham Norton Show (via CinemaBlend) about his time playing the character and his thoughts about how he’ll feel when someone new eventually takes over as James Bond.
During the interview, Daniel Craig spoke about turning the character of James Bond over to someone else and admitted that it wouldn’t exactly be an easy thing to see a different person on screen. While mostly in jest, Daniel Craig did say that it wouldn’t be an easy experience and there could even be a modicum of resentment when the character is eventually recast. Here is what Daniel Craig had to say about it:
It’s very emotional. I’m glad I am ending it on my own terms. I’m grateful to the producers for letting me do that. But I sure miss it. I’ll probably be incredibly bitter when the new person takes over.
It’s fairly obvious that Daniel Craig is saying this tongue-in-cheek considering he wasn’t ousted from the role of James Bond. Craig says as much, admitting that he is leaving the franchise on his “own terms” in a way that he thinks befits the character’s arc over the last many years. While an actor can hold a certain amount of personal responsibility for a character, love even, considering the circumstances we aren’t looking at a contentious situation regarding the proverbial passing of the James Bong torch. Craig knows as much.
While it might be tough for Daniel Craig to see another actor (or actress) play the James Bond role in the future, there’s no denying what he brought to the part over the last 15 years. Since hitting the screen back in 2006, Craig has brought a certain suave melancholy to the iconic role, differentiating himself from previous iterations. And it’s been a massive success any way you slice it. Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre have been both critical and commercial hits by any metric you choose. They’ve combined to earn almost $3.2 billion at the box office and average 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even without knowing where No Time to Die will land, we would consider this to be an almost unparalleled turn as Bond.
The long-delayed No Time to Die will be the curtain call for Daniel Craig as James Bond and it looks like he goes out with a bang. Coming face-to-face with a final, psychotic villain in Romi Malek’s Lyutsifer Safin. It looks like the most difficult test Craig’s Bond has had to face yet with the character dealing possibly with an existential crisis as well.
No Time to Die was originally supposed to be released all the way back in 2019, face delays in productions, and then really got the screws when the pandemic hit. Theater closings pushed the timeline back even further, years even. But now it is set to open on September 30th in the United Kingdom and then October 8th in the United States. Even if Daniel Craig doesn’t want to see the next iteration of James Bond, we can certainly enjoy his curtain call as the character.
