Daniel Craig Explains Why He Wanted His James Bond Character To Be Killed Off

It was a pretty shocking moment in the 007 franchise when James Bond was killed in No Time To Die. One of the things that makes these films so fun is all the different actors that have stepped into the role of Bond over the course of 25 films. When one actor is done with playing the character, another actor simply stepped into the role, and the creative team takes a new approach to the material.

That all changed with Daniel Craig’s Bond. No Time To Die was the actor’s final time playing Bond, and it ended with him sacrificing his own life to save others, which assured that this version of the character was completely done. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Craig said he was completely on board with his character dying and explained why:

"Two things, one for myself and one for the franchise. I was like, 'Well, you need to reset again.' So let's kill my character off and go find another Bond and go find another story. Start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30."

"The other was so that I could move on. I don't want to go back. I suppose I should be so lucky if they were to ask me back, but the fact is I need to move on from it. The sacrifice that he makes in the movie was for love, and there's no greater sacrifice. So it seemed like a good thing to end on."

Those are actually very good reasons, and you know what, I was ok with Bond sacraficing his life in the movie. Now the creative team can recast the character and start anew. I have no idea what is being planned for the future of the franchise, but one thing that I’d love to see is a version of Bond set during World War II. That could be a lot of fun!

What would you like to see the producers do with the James Bond franchise next?