It’s been another year without a new Bond announcement. What do you think is going on?
It could be argued that Eon is wise in taking their time in the development of Bond 26. After all, these days, there is no such thing as a sure hit. Evergreen properties such as Star Wars, Star Trek, The Terminator, Batman, Indiana Jones, DC, Marvel, and Mission: Impossible have all seen sluggish or disappointing box office returns. So Eon must navigate these waters carefully.
After all, Eon is not just planning one film. They need to map out a game plan for three to five films over a ten- to fifteen-year period. If Bond 26 is not a huge success, then it could negatively impact their immediate plans for Bond 27, Bond 28, and Bond 29.
Moreover, unlike Marvel, DC, or Star Wars, Eon cannot suddenly pivot to a new character if a film underperforms. For instance, if a Superman movie fails, DC can turn on the Bat Signal and make a new film about Batman instead. Eon does not have that luxury. The Bond franchise is essentially a one-character movie industry.
Do you think there’s any truth to those Aaron Taylor-Johnson rumours? He constantly dodges the Bond question.
Fans tend to reverse engineer the casting question. They’ll point to an actor and say, “That actor will be a good Bond because they are handsome, dashing, dangerous, fit, and charismatic.” And they might be right. However, fans sometimes overlook the fact that the actor must suit the script and the particular story the filmmakers are telling. Actor X might be a good Bond, but at what point in the spy’s career? What version of Bond is being told? Is he charming and suave like Moore’s Bond, or is he brooding and conflicted, like Dalton’s Bond? It will also depend on whether the next film is about Bond’s early days or if he’s already established. The actor also has to make a 10-year commitment to the series. So age is also a factor.
What direction do you predict Bond 26 will take in the future, especially with an unprecedented reboot post-the death of Daniel Craig’s 007?
There are at least three ways that Eon can take Bond. First, Eon can continue Daniel Craig’s storyline and say that Bond survived the explosion. This story would echo the end of Fleming’s novel You Only Live Twice. However, I think that’s unlikely. Craig’s tenure will be its own, discrete continuity.
Two, Eon can go back to the timeline established in the Connery-Lazenby-Moore-Dalton-Brosnan films. In those, all the actors played Bond at different moments in his career, and they all shared the same experiences. If Eon goes this route, then the new Bond would have battled Oddjob and Jaws. I don’t think they will adopt this approach. It has already been 22 years since Brosnan’s last Bond. No reason to go back.
Instead, I suspect that we will see a new Bond whose adventures are entirely divorced from the first 25 films of the series. To reinforce this, Eon will cast new actors as M, Q, and Moneypenny. While plot points from the previous films won’t be included, Bond tropes and iconography such as the martini and tux will be. Starting fresh but keeping some of the familiar is also a great way to welcome new fans into the fold, who might not be intimately familiar with every Bond film since 1962’s Dr No.
The Ian Fleming novels enter the public domain in 2035 what do you think this means for the future of Eon’s Bond film franchise?
The copyright issue is a little more complicated than it appears. Not every character and story goes into the public domain at once. Instead, that will happen sequentially, depending on the publication date of the novels. So, a character like Blofeld, who didn’t appear in the first Bond book, Casino Royale, will still be protected. It could be argued that the cinematic Bond, with his signature wit, is a distinct creation, separate from his literary counterpart.
Beyond the copyright issue, there are also trademarks to be considered. Those trademarks will protect Eon’s interests. So elements of Bond that are unique to those films are still protected. I’m not sure I want to see a Bond film without his theme music and the gun barrel opening. Those trademarks are a way to signal to consumers that they are getting a high-quality story and not a quick knock-off from an entity that doesn’t understand Bond.
I love the different interpretations of Sherlock Holmes. For me, it’s fun to see different creative minds put their spin on the great detective. However, I am not in favour of seeing a free-for-all with Bond. I like that Eon treats the spy as a Tiffany brand, something exclusive and rare. Eon has the resources and clout to tell Bond stories on a big scale. We’ve seen what happens when other creatives don’t treat the character seriously. For instance, I don’t think 1967’s farce Casino Royale with David Niven and Peter Sellers is anyone’s favourite Bond film.
I know that the wait for a new Bond film can be agonising. In the meantime, we can rewatch any classic Bonds or check out one of the continuation novels Ian Fleming Publications put out. Recently, in Charlie Higson’s On His Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond thwarted an attempt to disrupt King Charles’ coronation and Kim Sherwood’s Double-O series follows other agents in Bond’s division. We can look forward to reading Vaseem Khan’s mystery series featuring Q later this year. Dynamite currently publishes a series of Bond comics with a revolving door of creative talent. Until Bond 26 hits the big screens, there are plenty of Bond adventures to discover and enjoy.