THE TIME IS UPON US

We look ahead to JAMES BOND’s twenty-fifth feature-film adventure, NO TIME TO DIE, and play super-spy in search of the truth behind its development woes…

- John Townsend and Gareth Welsh

When No Time to Die premieres at the Royal Albert Hall on March 31st, it will be followed by a collective sense of relief. It’s been a troubled journey. Disputes, casting issues, crew changes, and a seemingly reluctant leading man have all added to the film’s problematic production, lending an air of doom-laden portent to the 25th entry into the James Bond canon. But amongst all the rumour and conjecture, against the revolving door of key players, there are glimmers of excited anticipation to be found, confidence that Daniel Craig’s fifth outing as the super-spy will be more Casino Royale than Spectre.

On October 14th 2005, Daniel Wroughton Craig was announced as the sixth actor to take on the James Bond mantle, and approximately 34 seconds later the world seemed to lose its collective mind. ‘Who?’ was a question asked by many, but mainly ‘What?’ and ‘Why?’. Now, four films and more than 14 years later, and installed as the longest-serving Bond actor having passed Roger Moore’s record of 5,118 days in October 2019, Craig is considered by many to be the best James Bond. While this is a conversation that will rage on eternally (and one that is largely moot given, well, who really cares?), it cannot be argued to the contrary that he has brought a necessary realism, a much-needed dose of gritty drama to a series that was drifting more towards sci-fi in the latter days of Pierce Brosnan’s reign.

Then, shortly after completing filming on 2015’s Spectre, Craig announced he would rather