Daniel Craig revealed why he returned for No Time to Die, his fifth and final outing as the iconic MI6 agent James Bond. Craig first debuted as 007 fifteen years ago in 2006's Casino Royale, a much more serious take on the spy than what had come before it. Craig would go on to star in Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, with the latter becoming one of the most successful James Bond films of all time critically and commercially. Overall, Craig's tenure as Bond has been marked by more serial storytelling in contrast to the previous entries in the franchise and that will be more apparent than ever in No Time to Die.
The plot of the upcoming film remains largely under wraps, but Craig and those involved have said it is a more interconnected story, one that will bring Bond full circle emotionally from Casino Royale. No Time to Die will see the return of Léa Seydoux's Madeleine Swann from Spectre, in addition to Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas as new characters. Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, and Christoph Waltz are also returning, while Rami Malek will play Bond's new adversary, one that has mysterious connections to his past. This past is something that was on Craig's mind while filming No Time to Die and it is one of the reasons he returned for the upcoming film.
In an interview with Games Radar, Craig said that he felt there was a story that needed to be finished regarding his version of Bond. This ties to back to Vesper Lynd, Eva Green's character from Casino Royale and Bond's love interest in the film, as well as the shadowy organization Spectre, explored in the film of the same name. Once the story began to come together, Craig realized that it was something he needed to finish.
We started talking about it and I went, ‘There might be a story we need to finish here – something we started in Casino [Royale]. Something to do with Vesper, and Spectre, and something that was connected, in a way.’ It started to formulate. And I thought, ‘Here we go.’
Previously, Craig had said that Spectre would be his final Bond film, famously saying that he would rather die than do another one. Naturally, the story called for just one more film despite the fact that Spectre could've been a fitting end for the character. Bond once again drives off into the sunset with a woman, this time with Seydoux's Swann, but, as Craig has hinted, his story did feel incomplete. After Skyfall and all the ways that Craig's films have hinted at Bond's past, there was clearly more to mine there.
No Time to Die has been promoted heavily as Craig's final outing, lending a finality to the film that other entires in the James Bond franchise haven't had. Many think this could mean that Craig's Bond will die and the mantle will be taken up by someone else. With studios looking to grow out interconnected universes more than ever before, it wouldn't be shocking to see No Time to Die lay the groundwork for future installments, something that has rarely been done in the franchise before.
Source: Games Radar
