From the first time cinematic Bond stepped off the silver screen in Dr. No right up to today the phrase “James Bond Will Return” appeared at the close of the ending credits. However, now thanks to the latest internet rumors that slogan could be in jeopardy. According to the internet Barbara Broccoli, Daniel Craig and Co. are tickled by the idea of killing off Bond (I suppose I could quip that they killed him off over a decade ago, but I won’t). To be fair these are in fact just unsubstantiated rumors, but considering how ridiculous it seemed that Blofeld could ever become Bond’s foster brother, well anything’s possible.
Now it’s no secret Babzy hates Bond, at least the Bond as envisioned by his creator Ian Fleming or her father Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, his cinematic creators. Daniel Craig also shares this resentment as he’s stated he wanted to leave as soon as he took the role, not to mention the fact, according to his own statements, he’s only doing this film as a big payday. So it’s no stretch of the imagination to believe these rumors are grounded in fact.
Of course you best believe Babzy is no fool, she knows (or at least she better well know) the fact that she holds the rights to the very lucrative Bond franchise is the only thing that keeps her relevant in Hollywood, otherwise she would vanish from the landscape faster than Kevin Spacey after a half off sale in the boy’s department at Macy’s! As my last rant points out she can’t manage a film production and she has no money to bankroll her own, not to mention if she were to invest her own money she would be destitute in days from the deafening flop she would produce. So having said all that, it’s a cinch she won’t be killing off the character entirely.
So there are two ways this could go:
First, EON “kills” Bond, that is to say in a cliffhanger ending we are lead to believe he has been killed only to find at the start of Bond 26 he has in fact survived. Much the same way Skyfall opened with Craig getting shot off the train and after the credits we learn he has actually been bumming around in some beach town (not to mention the opening of You Only Live Twice). So an unoriginal idea they explored only one film ago. Rumor has it Babz sees this as leverage to woo Craig back. So not much of a cliffhanger as we’ll all know he’s coming back, especially when the ramp up for Bond 26 begins and it’s announced it’ll be starring Daniel Craig!
Second, EON really does kill Craig’s Bond in an attempt at an OMG they totes killed Bond “shocker!” Not only is this idea idiotic it’s unoriginal, again just one film ago in Skyfall they killed off Judy Dench’s M in such a “shocking” twist.
Of course what killing off Bond would really do is finally give Babz the freedom to remold Bond to her vision. She can give credence to the ridiculous fan theory that’s been kicking around a few years that “James Bond” is a code name given to those who hold the 007 designator. That let’s EON cast whomever or whatever they like as Bond. Black, brown, woman, or we can finally have that non-binary gender queer Bond we’ve all been craving so badly! Of course EON could just cast an actor of color (as the kids call them these days) as Bond without killing him off and I personally would be fine with that were it done correctly, but EON never one to let a soap opera trope go to waste, seems to think that’s impossible. So instead we’ll just kill him off and start over, throwing away all that made Bond a phenomenon in the first place.
Thus prompting the question, “Will James Bond Return?”