After starring in five James Bond movies, Daniel Craig is ready to move on from playing 007. The English actor took over the role from Pierce Brosnan back in 2006. And while Craig famously said that he was going to be done with the role after the 2015 film Spectre, he returned for one final mission in the 2021 film No Time to Die.It’s also safe to say that the latest Bond entry left a lot of fans in shock. For the first time in the franchise’s 59-year history, 007 was killed off. As it turns out, however, Craig has been pondering over his character’s demise for some time.
In No Time To Die, James Bond Makes The Ultimate Sacrifice For Love
In the movie, Bond goes up against Safin (Rami Malek), a terrorist who’s using a DNA-based weapon that can infect targets by sending nanobots into their bodies.
To prevent more deaths, a newly reinstated Bond goes on a mission with fellow agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch) to infiltrate his base (an island) and open its silo doors in preparation for a missile strike.
For Bond, however, what complicates matters is that he’s just been reunited with former lover Madeleine (Léa Seydoux) and discovers that they have a daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet).
To make matters worse, the mother and child were held captive on that very island, although agent Nomi manages to get them to safety.
Before Bond can join them, however, he is confronted by Safin who shoots him with nanobots that have been coded to Madeleine’s DNA. Knowing any contact with Madeleine or Mathilde would result in their deaths, Bond chooses to stay behind for the missile strike after successfully opening the silo doors.
Daniel Craig On James Bond: "I Wanted To Kill Him Off A Long Time Ago"
The way No Time to Die ended certainly came as a shock to many. But perhaps, not for Craig himself who had always felt like 007 had to eventually die in the movie.
“I wanted to kill him off a long time ago, in Casino Royale, for all sorts of reasons,” the actor revealed during a conversation with Javier Bardem for Variety.
“One purely egotistical, which was that I felt like I needed to end what I did on it, and that I would only be satisfied if I could walk away and there was nowhere else for that to go.”
As it also turns out, Craig revealed his intentions to have Bond killed to James Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli right after working on Casino Royale.
“I said to Barbara, ‘How many of these movies do I have to make?’ Because I don’t really look at contracts or any of those things,” he recalled.
“And she said, ‘Four,’ and I went, ‘Oh, okay. Can I kill him off in the last one?’ And she didn’t pause. She said, ‘Yes.’ So I struck a deal with her back then and said, ‘That’s the way I’d like it to go.’ It’s the only way I could see for myself to end it all and to make it like that was my tenure, someone else could come and take over. She stuck to her guns.”
As for Broccoli, she recalled, “And I had to go and tell Michael [Wilson, co-producer] and we waited to tell the studio!” Broccoli also added, “That was the reality. It was like, make sure that this was the way that we get rid of Daniel.”
No Time To Die Director Cary Joji Fukunaga Made Sure James Bond’s Death Wouldn’t Be Like Terminator 2
When Fukunaga first signed on to the project, he was immediately told that Bond would have to die this time around. And while the Oscar winner agreed, he wanted to make sure that it would also make sense for him to get killed off in the story.
“In my first meeting with Daniel and the producers, they said that’s how they wanted the story,” Fukunaga recalled. “They felt that was an ending. I was like, ‘Well, it’s a result of an ending, but we don’t know what happens. It has to be earned.’”
Meanwhile, after years of playing 007, Craig also knew that the stakes would have to be highly personal for Bond once more.
“I knew the only way to make it work was that it had to be based in love, the actor further explained.
“In Skyfall, it’s the story of his love for Judi [Dench], which is complicated and toxic. And every time we’ve concentrated on love, it’s paid dividends.”
And while they do succeed in crafting a story where Bond meets his untimely end, the next challenge was to make sure that onscreen, no one would doubt that 007 was dead.
“I wanted to be clear with it. But I wanted it to be tasteful. We didn’t want that shot in Terminator 2 where you see Sarah Connor turning into bones,” Fukunaga explained.
“But we wanted to show that he wasn’t going to jump down a sewer at the last second. So that wider shot of the island being pummelled was a mixture of macro and micro. The full effect is, ‘Yes, he’s gone, but he succeeded in making sure none of that weapons would go on into the future.’”
Meanwhile, with Craig’s Bond days now firmly behind him, the search for the next British super spy continues. So far, several names have already been thrown around, including Idris Elba who appears to be the frontrunner.
