The 007 star’s final outing as Bond premieres tomorrow in the UK.
Daniel Craig has dashed fans’ hopes that he’ll return to the role of Bond later in life after confirming that he won’t be making a Sean Connery-style comeback.
The British actor, who has played James Bond since 2008, announced in 2019 that the latest film in the franchise No Time To Die would be his last in the role.
When asked at the No Time To Die premiere last year whether he would “do a Sean Connery” and return to James Bond later on his career, Craig told Australia’s Nine News: “Nope, definitely not.”
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, No Time To Die was originally scheduled for an April 2020 release, however due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the film was delayed multiple times.
Speaking to Sky News, Craig said that he was “greatly relieved” that the new Bond film was finally making it to the cinemas.
“I am greatly relieved: we make Bond movies for the cinema and we’re here and I couldn’t be happier about that.”
“It’s just been a long journey we’ve all had a pretty terrible couple of years,” he later told ITV News. “It’s mixed emotions but I just want to celebrate tonight.”
As for who’ll be replacing Craig in the next stage of the franchise, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli announced yesterday that the hunt for a new 007 won’t begin until 2022.
“We’re not thinking about it at all,” she told BBC Radio 4. “We want Daniel to have this time of celebration. Next year we’ll start thinking about the future.”