So, with Spectre out and doing the business attention will begin on the next and twenty fifth entry. Speculation will likely be fast and high given it's near certainly Daniel Craig's final entry into the franchise and Sony will still be pushing for a two year gap whilst he wants a break from it so there'll be recasting rumours and all sorts.
The first, and expected, thing out the gate though is that Sam Mendes has confirmed he won't be returning to direct the film. He says:
"I grew up on Dr. Who, and its ideas of regeneration. People say, 'Well, once you've acknowledged time passing and Bond getting older and characters dying, how do you continue the franchise?' And the answer is you regenerate, and you have to be as brave as when they cast Daniel, and when they let M die.
They have to go off in a completely different direction, into regenerating mythology. You cast a new actor and find a new director, and make something totally new. I can, off the top of my head, give you three or four ideas for where it could go next. They're all daring and big.
To me, the enemy is repetition and laziness, and the great danger is not challenging the preexisting format. These are my two chapters of the Bond myth. Someone else is going to write a chapter or 10 or 50, because Bond is strong enough for that, and because there's enough to play with."
Whilst it's true you could technically keep Craig's entries in a bubble and reboot again, the studio likely won't want to as it's more popular now than ever and a shift could change that. They'll likely be reluctant to let Craig go given he's already contracted for the film. It's an obvious direction for them and though Spectre could act as an ending for the character, it's not a great one and the argument over time passing in the films is here nor there as audiences have been used to changes in tone, actor and ages for 50 years of the franchise.
Either way, the film in whatever guise is likely to hit in either 2017 or 2018.
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