No Time To Die’s Director Originally Had A Wild Idea For Daniel Craig’s Final Run As Bond

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre

The finale of Spectre saw James Bond and his new lady driving off into the sunset, which felt like a nice farewell to Daniel Craig’s Bond. Many including Daniel Craig himself thought this would be his final run, but he felt an itch that he needed to do one more and here we are with No Time To Die. And, as it turns out, director Cary Fukunaga had some out-there ideas on how to send him out with a bang.

While speaking with Interview Magazine, Cary Fukunaga, who grabbed the attention of audiences everywhere with his amazing work on the first season of True Detective, spoke in-depth about the James Bond franchise. Then he spilled a wild idea he had for No Time to Die, saying:

I had an idea that this movie could all be taking place inside the villain’s lair from the last film. There’s this scene where a needle goes into James Bond’s head, which is supposed to make him forget everything, and then he miraculously escapes by a watch bomb. And then he and Léa blow up the place, and go on to save the day. I was like, ‘What if everything up until the end of act two is all inside his head?’

That is indeed a wild idea, and interesting to say the least. The James Bond franchise is practically as old as Hollywood itself and most of their movies have a scene where he’s at the mercy of the villain, but I can’t recall a time where everything he is experiencing is in his head.

In No Time To Die we'll find James Bond in retirement in Jamaica, enjoying a peaceful life, before he’s thrust back into the fray when CIA agent Felix Leiter asks for his help. He needs Bond to rescue a kidnapped scientist, but the mission will be a slippery slope into the mouth of a new dangerous villain and a deadly new technology.

It was recently announced that the release date for No Time To Die would be pushed back, to the dismay of fans everywhere. Many questioned if that meant Cary Fukunaga would do more edits during that time, but he confirmed there will be no changes.

Personally, I’m very glad he didn’t go ahead with this wild idea, considering it’s an old cliché that’s practically a punchline at this point with the “it was all dream,” revelation a la Jacob’s Ladder.

No Time to Die is currently set to arrive in theaters on November 25th. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Jason Ingolfsland