One character in James Bond's 25th official movie adventure, No Time To Die, seemed as if they were destined to perish, yet surprisingly survived. No Time To Die, the fifth and final entry in Daniel Craig's Bond series, was not short on shocks and surprises. The 2021 film saw Bond living a peaceful life with Léa Seydoux's Madeleine Swann until his tranquility came crashing down with the appearance of his biggest and most personal threat yet - the sinister bioterrorist Lyutsifer Safin. Played by Rami Malek, Safin threatened to kill millions of people across the globe with his biological Heracles weapon in an effort to seize the ultimate power.
No Time To Die saw the tightly serialized Daniel Craig era of 007 come to a close with the shocking death of James Bond himself - something that had never truly happened in the EON-produced movie series before. It was a fitting ending to a character arc that had played out across a total of five movies. Although the death of Daniel Craig's 007 in No Time To Die came as a huge surprise, another character's startling survival was arguably more astonishing.
Madeleine Swann Looked Certain To Die In Bond 25
Although it was Bond himself who ultimately perished in the climax of No Time To Die, it initially seemed certain that Madeleine Swann would be the one to die, for a number of convincing reasons. Through its repeated use of "We Have All the Time in the World" by Louis Armstrong and other reused motifs, No Time To Die constantly referenced On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In the final scene of George Lazenby's singular outing as the British super-spy, James Bond's wife, Tracy, played by Diana Rigg, was assassinated by Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Irma Bunt.
No Time To Die knowingly evoked On Her Majesty's Secret Service by playing "We Have All the Time in the World" throughout its runtime. The use of this song clearly tried to make audiences believe that Swann, Bond's true love, would be killed in the film, paralleling On Her Majesty's Secret Service's ending. No Time To Die further attempted to make Swann's death seem inevitable by connecting her to SPECTRE early on. In the film's pre-title sequence, Bond was ambushed by SPECTRE agents after visiting Vesper Lynd's grave at Swann's request. Believing that she is working with SPECTRE and has knowingly betrayed him, Bond ended their relationship.
Why Swann Had To Survive In No Time To Die
Despite the constant teasing of her possible death in the film, Madeleine had to survive No Time To Die, as survival was incredibly important to her story. In her first appearance in the James Bond franchise, 2015's Spectre, Madeleine was involuntarily dragged into danger, not only by her connection to her father, the former SPECTRE agent Mr. White, but also by Bond himself. When Bond first met her, Madeleine Swann was working as a doctor at the expensive Hoffler clinic in Austria, having long since dropped any ties to her father. Bond seeking out Madeleine in Spectre is arguably what put her in danger in the first place.
Swann's backstory was further explored during a flashback to her childhood years in the opening scenes of No Time To Die. Her hatred of guns and direct connection to the film's antagonist were established when Safin murdered young Madeleine's mother in front of her. Swann wanted to escape the dangerous life that her parents, and later Bond, placed her in. If she had indeed died during No Time To Die, it would have been an unnecessarily brutal and bitter end to her character, leaving her wish of a peaceful life unfulfilled.
Madeleine Swann's Survival Flips An Old Bond Trope
As well as completing her arc on a positive note, Madeleine's survival also flipped an old James Bond trope surrounding so-called "Bond Girls". Throughout the franchise, many Bond Girls have been killed to propel Bond's story forward. The most obvious example of this is Tracy's death in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In a rare moment of pre-Craig continuity, Diamonds are Forever then opened with Bond attempting to track down and kill Blofeld in revenge for Tracy's murder. The killing of Bond Girls to move Bond's arc forward is an outdated, sexist trope, and it is good that No Time To Die flipped it by ensuring Madeleine Swann's survival.