Yeah I don't mind a reboot at all; it doesn't have to be an origin story per se (in as far as seeing Bond grow up through Eton etc.) but I think a start to the story you're going to be telling is absolutely fine. Spider Man's origin is so well known and has been told so many times that there's little point in doing it again, but Bond doesn't really have a set-in-stone, bitten-by-a-radioactive-spy origin story, so that allows a bit more room for writers to do something new and interesting with him. First Light is about to do that, it's going to do something different to the version we saw in Casino Royale, so there are other ways to do it still out there. One version I kind of like is to play less with Bond's origins, but show M forming the Double 0 section for the first time- something we haven't quite seen before, keeps Bond as an experienced guy, but it's a start to the story we're watching being played out. I'm sure there's lots of other ways it can be done too.
Interesting idea: M forming the 00-section. If Amazon goes for Bond-related TV-series this would be a great topic to explore. I guess it would most likely be set before Casino Royal was published in 1953, but after Special Operations Executive was disbanded in 1946. Early cold war stories mixed with more exotic stories about the end of colonialism and the empire.
Yes that’s a fun idea, but it could equally be done current day, with Bond being the first 00 or something. It’s make a nice change for the 00s to be something new and fresh rather than the old fashioned men of the past the films have described them as for the last thirty years or so.
Wouldn't Bond be 001 then? But making him (one of) the first 00-agents in a present day setting would be a way to make the movies new and fresh. Would it be messing too much with Fleming? Would it still feel like a Bond film? I don't know, but the idea is exciting. Bond and M would be finding the way as they're walking. To ad another layer of freshness would be including the idea of making Moneypenny the head of the new 00-section. It would be radical, but perhaps not too radical.
I think he did break the 4th wall but not egregiously. The real question that needs to be pondered is did Lazenby inadvertently contribute to what would become the notorious "Code Name Theory"? 😲
Rhys says: "They were floating this idea that the next James Bond would be plucked at an early age out of the Naval Academy and they had all these great ideas like that, that Bond himself kind of like you know was going to pick the next candidate to fill the role of 007."
I think what he actually means is the current 007 is to pick the new 007 and he would eventually choose Bond.
We know that EON recycles ideas that were not used from past films and so I wonder, as some have speculated that the Broccolis still have a lot of influence, if this naval academy idea isn't coming back for Bond26?
Did he mean " James Bond would be plucked at an early age out for the Naval Academy ...."? This makes more sense since Bond couldn't end up as a commander if he drops out of the Academy early.
The second part sounds worryingly like the code name theory.
It just doesn't match with what Barbara says in the making of CR06. They really intended to explain how Bond was going to get the 00 status, and it seems quite unlikely the code name theory was going to be used precisely to justify the fact this version of the character is not the same as the one we were used to. This movie is a love letter to Fleming, and I believe this was some kind of test created by the producers themselves to establish whether the actor knows and understands who Bond is or not.
If Rhys had answered something like 'Wait, isn't James Bond supposed to be a genuine identity? Is the next 007 really going to be another guy with the same name? In that case, I'm not sure to get your point because Fleming never mentions any code name, so why would the next movie deal with this concept?', perhaps he would have been considered more seriously for the part...
I saw an advert for something called Jingle Bell Heist the other day but the male lead in it caught my eye as a bit Hoagy Carmichael like and I think he could be a good Bond candidate. Connor Swindells, born 1996, 6ft tall, was in SAS Rogue Heroes, and a variety of other stuff showing he has acting range.
I’ve watched SAS Rogue Heroes - I didn’t realise he played David Sterling in it…and he’s only 29 years old…I’d actually prefer Jack O’Connell from that series - he’s been really good in everything I’ve seen him in…he’s 35 already though - maybe that could put him out of the running alone 🤔
Former Variety staff writer, entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider first reported that David Heyman was going to become a Bond producer, and later he shortlisted Denis Villenueve as one of the directors in contention.
Now he says Callum Turner is front runner for new Bond.
The first time I saw Heyman mentioned in relation to Bond was from Tatiana Siegel in Variety, less than a week after the sale announcement and a month before they were announced. In retrospect his mention there reads like a big hint. I think Matt Belloni of The Puck first broke the full scoop.
This can't be right, we've already been given 2028 as a date and we heard from Steven Knight recently that he is writing the script, but Villeneuve's process is to work with the writer to re-write it when Villeneuve storyboards the script. That all then has to have Studio signoff and locations have to be scouted and other pre-production has to occur. The idea that Villenueve can shepherd Dune 3 through post-production and simultaneously work on Bond when he will want the press to focus on Dune 3 this December for its publicity and not focus on Bond is for the birds.
I would push what this article claims back 12 months. Bond actor announced summer 2027 and December 2027 the earliest date for filming.
"One insider told Kroll the new Bond needs to look like “he could kill you with his bare hands in a trice” — a clear return to Fleming’s more brutal version of the character. Sources also indicate that Knight is drawing heavily from Fleming’s earliest novels, which could mean a return to Bond’s Royal Navy background and his rise through MI6 before attaining his “00” status.
We could very well have an “origin” story on our hands, potentially set in the ’50s or ’60s. Not a done deal, but that’s what many fans would love to see — a period-set Bond."
Bond isn't in the navy in the early Fleming books and with the (possible) exception of CR those aren't origin stories.
Sources also indicate that Knight is drawing heavily from Fleming’s earliest novels, which could mean a return to Bond’s Royal Navy background and his rise through MI6 before attaining his “00” status
Some people often quote Fleming without knowing anything about his work. Ne supra crepidam as they say...
The My Mom's Basement podcast episode that World of Reel refers to, the Bond comments from the Deadline journalist start just after 21 minutes. He seems very confident. I just can't see how, with all of Villeneuve's Dune 3 commitments, that this timetable is in anyway possible.
I don't know why World of Reel refers to those other comments it alleged Kroll made because he does not make them in the podcast. I searched Twitter and Kroll has not made those comments there and this is is last article about Bond26.
Comments
Yeah I don't mind a reboot at all; it doesn't have to be an origin story per se (in as far as seeing Bond grow up through Eton etc.) but I think a start to the story you're going to be telling is absolutely fine. Spider Man's origin is so well known and has been told so many times that there's little point in doing it again, but Bond doesn't really have a set-in-stone, bitten-by-a-radioactive-spy origin story, so that allows a bit more room for writers to do something new and interesting with him. First Light is about to do that, it's going to do something different to the version we saw in Casino Royale, so there are other ways to do it still out there. One version I kind of like is to play less with Bond's origins, but show M forming the Double 0 section for the first time- something we haven't quite seen before, keeps Bond as an experienced guy, but it's a start to the story we're watching being played out. I'm sure there's lots of other ways it can be done too.
Interesting idea: M forming the 00-section. If Amazon goes for Bond-related TV-series this would be a great topic to explore. I guess it would most likely be set before Casino Royal was published in 1953, but after Special Operations Executive was disbanded in 1946. Early cold war stories mixed with more exotic stories about the end of colonialism and the empire.
Yes that’s a fun idea, but it could equally be done current day, with Bond being the first 00 or something. It’s make a nice change for the 00s to be something new and fresh rather than the old fashioned men of the past the films have described them as for the last thirty years or so.
Wouldn't Bond be 001 then? But making him (one of) the first 00-agents in a present day setting would be a way to make the movies new and fresh. Would it be messing too much with Fleming? Would it still feel like a Bond film? I don't know, but the idea is exciting. Bond and M would be finding the way as they're walking. To ad another layer of freshness would be including the idea of making Moneypenny the head of the new 00-section. It would be radical, but perhaps not too radical.
In the novels there are (IIRC) only three 00 agents at a time, and the numbers aren’t sequential.
I think he did break the 4th wall but not egregiously. The real question that needs to be pondered is did Lazenby inadvertently contribute to what would become the notorious "Code Name Theory"? 😲
Back in May 2023, Welsh actor Matthew Rhys talked about his audition for Bond for 2006 Casino Royale. Why have I not seen this before?
Rhys says: "They were floating this idea that the next James Bond would be plucked at an early age out of the Naval Academy and they had all these great ideas like that, that Bond himself kind of like you know was going to pick the next candidate to fill the role of 007."
I think what he actually means is the current 007 is to pick the new 007 and he would eventually choose Bond.
We know that EON recycles ideas that were not used from past films and so I wonder, as some have speculated that the Broccolis still have a lot of influence, if this naval academy idea isn't coming back for Bond26?
Did he mean " James Bond would be plucked at an early age out for the Naval Academy ...."? This makes more sense since Bond couldn't end up as a commander if he drops out of the Academy early.
The second part sounds worryingly like the code name theory.
It just doesn't match with what Barbara says in the making of CR06. They really intended to explain how Bond was going to get the 00 status, and it seems quite unlikely the code name theory was going to be used precisely to justify the fact this version of the character is not the same as the one we were used to. This movie is a love letter to Fleming, and I believe this was some kind of test created by the producers themselves to establish whether the actor knows and understands who Bond is or not.
If Rhys had answered something like 'Wait, isn't James Bond supposed to be a genuine identity? Is the next 007 really going to be another guy with the same name? In that case, I'm not sure to get your point because Fleming never mentions any code name, so why would the next movie deal with this concept?', perhaps he would have been considered more seriously for the part...
Perhaps (hopefully) you're right. I find it hard to believe what Rhys says, and he may very well have misunderstood a lot.
I saw an advert for something called Jingle Bell Heist the other day but the male lead in it caught my eye as a bit Hoagy Carmichael like and I think he could be a good Bond candidate. Connor Swindells, born 1996, 6ft tall, was in SAS Rogue Heroes, and a variety of other stuff showing he has acting range.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8874222/
I’ve watched SAS Rogue Heroes - I didn’t realise he played David Sterling in it…and he’s only 29 years old…I’d actually prefer Jack O’Connell from that series - he’s been really good in everything I’ve seen him in…he’s 35 already though - maybe that could put him out of the running alone 🤔
Jack O'Connell is quite short too, another problem.
He’s too short to play Paddy Mayne too but that wasn’t a problem at all.
I don't think most people know Paddy Mayne was tall.
He’s taller than the average height for men 🤨 so he’s not short at all…I’d rather go with acting ability above (pun intended) height 😁
What average? Bond is half Swiss, and the average height for men there is 178 cm 5' 10''. I'd prefer an actor who has both height and acting ability.
I’m not really bothered to be honest. Everyone looks tall on the movie screen, twenty foot high 😄
Ethan Hunt being under six feet affects my enjoyment of his films not at all.
World average height.
He’s half Scottish too…and they are, on average, shorter than Swiss men…
Pick your hill and die on it.
I think the two of us has made our opinions on this issue clear already and I don't see any reason to do it again.
Which would be easier if you didn’t comment on my posts. I leave you to yours.
I overlooked who I was replying to. Sorry.
Former Variety staff writer, entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider first reported that David Heyman was going to become a Bond producer, and later he shortlisted Denis Villenueve as one of the directors in contention.
Now he says Callum Turner is front runner for new Bond.
https://x.com/HollywoodHandle/status/1996034552968741320?s=20
I'd be okay with Callum Turner as Bond.
The first time I saw Heyman mentioned in relation to Bond was from Tatiana Siegel in Variety, less than a week after the sale announcement and a month before they were announced. In retrospect his mention there reads like a big hint. I think Matt Belloni of The Puck first broke the full scoop.
https://www.themovieblog.com/2026/01/denis-villeneuve-sets-new-james-bond-casting-mid-year-shooting-2027/
Rumor for now.
This can't be right, we've already been given 2028 as a date and we heard from Steven Knight recently that he is writing the script, but Villeneuve's process is to work with the writer to re-write it when Villeneuve storyboards the script. That all then has to have Studio signoff and locations have to be scouted and other pre-production has to occur. The idea that Villenueve can shepherd Dune 3 through post-production and simultaneously work on Bond when he will want the press to focus on Dune 3 this December for its publicity and not focus on Bond is for the birds.
I would push what this article claims back 12 months. Bond actor announced summer 2027 and December 2027 the earliest date for filming.
I noticed this:
"One insider told Kroll the new Bond needs to look like “he could kill you with his bare hands in a trice” — a clear return to Fleming’s more brutal version of the character. Sources also indicate that Knight is drawing heavily from Fleming’s earliest novels, which could mean a return to Bond’s Royal Navy background and his rise through MI6 before attaining his “00” status.
We could very well have an “origin” story on our hands, potentially set in the ’50s or ’60s. Not a done deal, but that’s what many fans would love to see — a period-set Bond."
Bond isn't in the navy in the early Fleming books and with the (possible) exception of CR those aren't origin stories.
Sources also indicate that Knight is drawing heavily from Fleming’s earliest novels, which could mean a return to Bond’s Royal Navy background and his rise through MI6 before attaining his “00” status
Some people often quote Fleming without knowing anything about his work. Ne supra crepidam as they say...
The My Mom's Basement podcast episode that World of Reel refers to, the Bond comments from the Deadline journalist start just after 21 minutes. He seems very confident. I just can't see how, with all of Villeneuve's Dune 3 commitments, that this timetable is in anyway possible.
I don't know why World of Reel refers to those other comments it alleged Kroll made because he does not make them in the podcast. I searched Twitter and Kroll has not made those comments there and this is is last article about Bond26.
Baz Bamigboye's 24 Sept. 2025 article does have the 'trice' comment.