Daniel Craig Says James Bond Is 'Not Really Dead'
Hollywood star Daniel Craig recently opened up about leaving the James Bond role behind. The 54-year-old star also revealed that he discussed killing the character with franchise producer Barbara Broccoli.
"No, none at all," Craig said when asked by Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4's 'Best of Today' podcast, as quoted in a report by 'Variety'.
He added, "I had an incredibly fortunate 17 years of my life making this. I literally want to spend the next 20 years of my life trying to unhook it all and try and put it into a place because it was incredible. I left it where I wanted it to be and I was given the chance to do that with the last movie."
According to 'Variety', a US-based news outlet, when Kearney said that Bond had been killed off, Craig said, "He's not really dead. I'm gone, but it says right at the end of 'No Time to Die' that Bond will return, so he must return at some point."
When Kearney asked about the character's reimagining, Craig responded, "I don't know if it sounds disingenuous, but I said to Barbara a long time ago, back in 2006, 'If I do all of these movies and we get it right, can we kill him off' and she said, 'Yes, you can.' And I was thinking about myself, about my postponed career and I was trying to think of how that would work and but I was also thinking about what they did with 'Casino Royale' - they had the chance to reset with that because they went back to the beginning. I thought you'll have a chance to reset it again. That kind seems to be like a good move."
In response to how Bond appears to be killed off on an island at the climax of 'No Time to Die', Craig revealed to the British newspaper 'The Times': "Real tragedy is when you have absolutely no choice. We had to find a way to make his death no choice. It was the happiest Bond had ever been because he'd found exactly what he was looking for. Like everyone on Earth, he was just looking for love."
Craig has moved on to the 'Knives Out' series, the second instalment of which, 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery', is available on 'Netflix' starting December 23.
