No Time To Die's final trailer leans heavily on the continuity of Daniel Craig's James Bond films, which proves the biggest change of the modern 007 movies to be the right one all along. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, No Time To Die is the long-awaited fifth Bond film in the saga that began with 2006's Casino Royale, and it's reportedly Daniel Craig's swansong as the iconic British superspy. No Time To Die's final trailer emphasizes the film as the final adventure of Craig as James Bond. It's the epic conclusion of Craig's 007's story, which heightens its emotional impact.
Starting with Casino Royale's total reboot, Daniel Craig's Bond followed in the footsteps of the successful Jason Bourne films and established a serialized continuity. Craig's 2008 sequel, Quantum of Solace, picked up moments after Casino Royale ended and resolved lingering plot threads. Sam Mendes took over directing duties for 2012's Skyfall, which explored Bond's past and parentage as it killed off Judi Dench's M. Mendes' 2015 follow-up, Spectre, delved further into Bond's childhood as an orphan and revealed that the leader of Spectre, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), was James' adoptive brother. In addition, Bond quit MI6 to start a new life with Dr. Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), the daughter of 007's old adversary, Mr. White (Jesper Christensen).
Judging from No Time To Die's final trailer, Cary Fukunaga's film will smartly tie Craig's entire 007 story together and provide something crucial that no Bond movie has done before: a definitive ending for the superspy. What that ending entails isn't clear but some Bond fans theorize that James will finally die for good since he's replaced by a new 007 (Lashana Lynch) in No Time To Die. But No Time To Die also capitalizes on the tight continuity of Daniel Craig's Bond movies, which is one of the biggest changes of the modern 007 films, and it is something the previous 20 James Bond movies starring Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan lacked overall. However, fans can watch Daniel Craig's rebooted Bond pentalogy as a complete story in a way the previous James Bond continuity wasn't.
Despite the rotation of actors, the first 20 James Bond movies maintained a very loose continuity in that Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan all essentially played the same character who lived through all of those adventures. There are some key points that emphasize this canon; for instance, George Lazenby's Bond married Tracy (Diana Rigg), who was murdered in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Sean Connery's Bond resumed the role and sought revenge for Tracy in Diamonds Are Forever before Roger Moore's 007 killed Blofeld once and for all in For Your Eyes Only a decade later. Brosnan's Bond movies cited some of his predecessors' exploits and several Easter eggs homaged past 007 movies in Die Another Day. But otherwise, the first 20 Bond films can generally be enjoyed in any order.
Director Martin Campbell rebooting James Bond with Casino Royale and Sam Mendes revising 007's history and modernizing his MI6 supporting cast set up Cary Fukunaga's final act. No Time To Die will deal with Daniel Craig's Bond's legacy and it teases what 007 will leave behind, hinting that Bond may possibly have a child, either with Madeleine Swann or created artificially by Safin (Rami Malek), No Time To Die's villain. However No Time To Die resolves Bond's story, the fact that it's designed to complete Craig's saga as 007 is also unique for the franchise where the promise that "James Bond Will Return" traditionally accompanies the end credits. Daniel Craig's movies changed 007 canon and gave his version of Bond a complete emotional story arc. No Time To Die looks to be a fitting ending that gives James Bond something he's never really had: a grand finale.
