Bond 25 Rumors: What's Really Happening With the Next 007 Movie

Bond 25 was, many thought, set to take the franchise in a new direction after the poor reception Spectre received. However, the film has been dogged with setbacks, and there seems to be more focus on who'll play Bond after Bond 25 rather than the movie itself. What exactly is going on?

It's been almost three years since the last James Bond movie, Spectre, released in Fall 2015, and since then it's been a rollercoaster. There's been a long will-he-won't-he of it Daniel Craig will return, multiple screenplays and now director drama.

Bond is one of the biggest franchises on the planet, so there's a lot of pressure to get it right. With that comes a lot of speculation and rumor - doubly so as this series brushes up with the British tabloids - which makes knowing the truth of 007's future rather tricky. Today, we're going to cut through all of the misinformation and tell you the facts (and a few uncertainties) of what's really going on with James Herbert Bond.

This Page: What Is (And Isn't) Happening On Bond 25
Page 2: The Future Of The Bond Franchise

When Is Bond 25 Coming Out?

After Spectre, in 2015, many assumed that Daniel Craig would hang up his tux and retire from playing the special agent - he made some very strongly worded claims on that film's press tour - but surprisingly he decided to stay on. By that point, the film had already been given a November 2019 release date. This was still two years away, so it seemed pretty attainable.

However, since then there have been some complications with both the scripts and filmmakers of Bond 25 (which we'll get to shortly) that presently leave the film without a director. While there have been reports that the release will subsequently be pushed back to 2020 or later, it appears that Eon is still hoping to make November 8, 2019, just over 14 months away.

That would seem entirely unattainable for most, but the Bond franchise has a history with tight schedules; Spectre didn't begin filming until 11 months before its release. Although, given the quality of the movie, that was a mistake and indeed, it would be churlish to try that tactic again.

Is This Really Daniel Craig’s Last Bond Movie?

By the time Bond 25 is released, Craig will be the longest-serving Bond because of the gaps between movies. However, he won't beat the late Roger Moore's record of playing 007 a whopping (and fitting) seven times as Craig has said this will be his last.

After many negative comments about the franchise and the character itself, many feel that at this stage, Craig isn't doing the role for the fun or prestige that playing such an iconic character will bring. Rather, he's just going through the motions and collecting a big fat paycheck at the end. Then again, Craig has said he wants to play the special agent one more time as he'd like to go out on a high. Maybe, given that Spectre struggled in comparison to the far more superior Skyfall, Craig wants one last shot at starring in a top quality James Bond movie.

Of course, anything is open to change, but as it stands Bond 25 will be Craig's final movie.

Who’s Directing And What Happened With Danny Boyle?

Up until mid-August 2018, Danny Boyle was set to direct Bond 25. He joined the project earlier in the year with a challenging script from John Hodge. However, not anymore.

The official statement said that Danny Boyle quite Bond 25 over "creative differences". Of course, we all know that's the old adage trotted out whenever there's been a fundamental disagreement on the creative team. So what was the exact reason? No one really knows; Boyle hasn't spoken on the subject and neither have Daniel Craig or Bond producer Barbara Broccoli - and neither are they likely to right now. A report in the British news suggested that producers weren't happy with the script's focus on a modern-day cold war with Russia, and what really pushed Boyle over the edge was Craig vetoing his casting of Tomasz Kot as the main Bond villain. Craig has final say in all castings and so, when he said no, Boyle waved goodbye. That's just a rumor, but it's worth noting that Boyle doesn't usually work on big budget movies owing to the lack of creative control, so it's likely that there were issues on both sides.

At present. Bond 25 has no director. The most recent rumor is that Jean-Marc Vallee has been approached. He has no directing projects lined up, and he's said previously that a Bond movie would be a fun thing to do. Given his Oscar nomination for Dallas Buyers Club and great success with his TV projects like Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, so could be a great choice.

Page 2 of 2: The Future Of The Bond Franchise

Christoph Waltz (left) and Lea Seydoux in SPECTRE

Will Bond 25's Story Link To Spectre?

At this stage, no one really knows what's going on with the script for Bond 25, because there are two. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, longstanding James Bond scriptwriters, wrote an initial draft of Bond 25 rumored to be titled Shatterhand, and most assumed that was what would be used. That didn't exactly fill Bond fans with glee; Purvis and Wade have been writing Bond movies for a long time now - since 1999's The World Is Not Enough - and their formulaic scripts are looking jaded and worn.

However, when Boyle joined as director, he brought with him his longstanding collaborator, John Hodge, who then penned a script based off an idea of Boyle's. Details are scarce, but it's rumored that Hodge's script had ties to #timesup and #metoo; in essence, it was a much more political and controversial story. It seems very unlikely that Hodge will still be on board, or that any portion of his script would be used given Boyle's departure. In that case, then, it's back to Purvis and Wade's script, which will need to be polished and ready pretty quickly to meet that November 2019 deadline.

As for ties to Spectre, that now seems unlikely. While the movie gave the potential for Christoph Waltz's Blofeld to return, the actor has revealed he's not coming back, albeit not through choice. But all of that leaves fans of Bond wondering what story we are going to get instead.

What’s With All The Casting Rumors About Idris Elba?

After publicly declaring he'd rather slit his wrists than ever play James Bond again, it was something of a surprise to hear that Craig had signed up to play 007 for a fifth time. He might already be regretting his choice, though, given all the issues Bond 25 has had to deal with. If anything, there seems to be far more focus on who will be the next Bond.

Idris Elba has long been touted as a possible Bond replacement, even before Spectre started filming, and they were recently sparked up again by - who else - the British tabloids. With his debonair charm and acting ability, Elba certainly has the talent and charisma needed to pull a character like James Bond off. However, there doesn't appear to be any grounding to those rumors, with Elba - who normally has fun with the speculation - flat-out refuting them. After all, they've still got to deal with Bond 25: anything after is a long way off.