Is Daniel Craig truly ready to move away from the British Secret Service?
[dropcap size=small]B[/dropcap]ack in October last year, Esquire interviewed Daniel Craig about all things Bond, and this is where the first rumblings of Craig’s time as 007 coming to end all began.
When asked if he would reprise the role one more time after Spectre, he replied:
I really don’t know. Honestly. I’m not trying to be coy. At the moment I can’t even conceive it.
You can see why specualtion began to circulate.
Now, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy actor, Mark Strong, – who happens to be Craig’s close friend – has added more fuel to the fire in an interview with Shortlist, where he essentially confirmed Craig is ready cut down on the Martini’s (shaken, not stirred, of course), and put his 007 days behind him:
He has been [wonderful] and he’s loved it. But I think he feels like he’s mined it. He’s done what he wants with it. That point has come.”
Strong, who’s known for various villain roles in films such as Stardust, Kick-Ass and Sherlock Holmes, also reaffirmed everyone’s suspicions when he stated that he would have loved to have played a Bond villain during Craig’s run:
Do you know what, I’d have loved to have played the villain in a Bond movie while Daniel was doing it because he’s a pal and that would have been great. But I think he’s come to the end of his Bond time and so it’s probably never going to happen, but that would have always been great.
Strong would have no doubt been a perfect old school Bond villain for Craig to deal with, but alas, it seems it shall never be so.
And just to illustrate that Strong and Craig go way back, here is a glorious picture of the pair in a promo photo for the TV mini series Our Friends in the North, which they both starred in back in the 90’s. So. Much. Hair.
Given that names have already been thrown around for who will be the next James Bond – with Tom Hardy and Idris Elba being some of the top actors who have been bandied about – it’s not entirely surprising to hear that Craig is ready to move on from Ian Fleming’s seminal character.
We can’t help but wonder who the next 007 will be, if Craig is truly ready to say goodbye to the secret agent lifestyle.
However, there are rumours that Craig was reportedly already contracted for the next Bond film, and is attached to a project with the simple working title of ‘Bond 25.’ Whether or not this will come to be, with Craig involved, is something only time will tell us.
We’ll just have to wait and see what, and who, the next installment will bring.
