The gap between Spectre and No Time To Die was a period of great uncertainty for James Bond fans, as there was some question about whether or not Daniel Craig would play the role of 007 in the 25th film. While history saw Craig announce that No Time To Die was going to be his next, and ultimately last film as James Bond, even that almost didn’t happen. As it turns out, Daniel Craig almost didn’t even return after Spectre, because he wasn’t sure he could.
Naturally, the world was excited to see the modern 007 potentially resurge after 2015’s James Bond outing. And while Daniel Craig made some remarks that saw the world question if he’d have even wanted to return, as he told Total Film, it wasn’t a question of opportunity. Rather, it was his own physical well being that had Craig questioning another round, as he explained with this piece of information:
I thought I probably was physically not capable of doing another. For me, it was very cut and dried that I wasn’t coming back.
Suffering a knee related injury during the shoot for Spectre, Daniel Craig was pretty worn out by the process and in need of some rest. Whether he (or the world for that matter) had planned for that time off to stretch several years after the 24th James Bond film, it happened. And while we’re sitting on almost six years between that installment and No Time To Die’s debut, that break is what allowed Craig to ultimately say yes to his fifth and final outing. Which is interesting, as the process to get the 25th Bond movie underway sounded like more of the same, right down to another injury racked up during filming.
No one can fault Daniel Craig for making the upcoming James Bond release his last hurrah in the world of Ian Fleming’s legendary creation. The insane exercise regimen that was required to keep Craig in 007 shape, as well as the injury that he saw himself incurring on the set of No Time To Die, are just further reminders of how intense making one Bond movie can be. With five movies in the books, Mr. Craig has more than earned the right to say goodbye to James Bond, and to say hello to the further adventures of Benoit Blanc.
The era of Daniel Craig’s James Bond tenure comes to a close with No Time To Die, which is slated for release in the UK on September 30th and on October 8th in the US. So if you’re looking to catch up on the Craig era before the big day, you’ve still got plenty of time to catch up on all four 007 reboot films available.
