JAMES BOND WILL RETURN

“Even in death, my munificence is boundless” - Hugo Drax

The explosion has burned itself out. The clouds have dispersed, the dust settled. James Bond is dead, but long live James Bond.

The ending of No Time To Die now takes on an extra layer of poignancy. It wasn’t just James Bond that exploded on that island, but also Broccoli/Wilson/Saltzman and their combined sixty-plus years of delicate husbandry.

With the news that the Amazon/EON impasse has been broken. It’s clear that James Bond will return, and how do we all feel about that?

Myself, I am deeply conflicted. On the one hand, there WILL be another Bond film, which is obviously very exciting, but on the other hand, what else will come crawling out with it? Do we trust Amazon to deliver?

After all they’ve already shitted out that Apprentice “Road to a Million” nightmare, which even as the most ardent Bond fan, I couldn’t go anywhere near. What other ideas are cooking over there?

Personally I still stand by what I wrote here in terms of how to go next, but I would also now add the caveat that someone needs to be put in place to deal with this, and it needs to be someone who knows their stuff. Someone who can give the Bond fans the Dom Pérignon '52 they deserve, instead of the Phuyuck that we’re all dreading.

Much like Kevin Feige does (did) at Marvel, or James Gunn over at DC, we need a Bond man who knows where the bodies are kept, and knows the best way to untie this knot - and more importantly, knows to say no to a spin off about how Bond’s parents knew Wint and Kidd as children, or something equally as appalling.

So it’s a mixed bag of news right now, but they need to get ahead of the game and calm the market by announcing Bond 26 is going ahead ASAP. How about giving fans some actual timescales? Line up an exciting director? Cast an interesting actor? Hey, why not?

Until then, the very minimum they can do is to have the films on Amazon for free, no?

I guess we just need to watch this space. After all, in this business you prepare for the unexpected. This isn’t just any old I.P., this is James Bond, and nobody does it better.