Former Bond writer rips into No Time to Die “killing” 007

James Bond has found himself in some truly treacherous jams over the years. But one that he couldn’t escape came in the most recent outing, 2021’s No Time to Die, which found the character (as played by Daniel Craig) meeting his fate. Now, a former writer of James Bond novels is lashing out against that move, saying it took away from 007’s legendary status.

Anthony Horowitz – who wrote Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day and With a Mind to Kill between 2015 and 2022 – recently chatted with Radio Times, where he said that Bond 26 writer Steven Knight has a unique task ahead of himself, openly criticizing what No Time to Die did to the secret agent. “The last time we saw Bond he was poisoned and blown to smithereens – how will they get past the fact he is dead with a capital D? I think that was a mistake, because Bond is a legend. He belongs to everybody, he is eternal – except in that film. If I was asked tomorrow to write the script, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Where would you start? You can’t have him waking up in the shower and saying it was all a dream.”

No Time to Die may have killed off James Bond but with a new actor taking over for Craig after his five-movie run, it’s clear that they won’t go the ridiculous route by having Bond wake up in his bed saying, “And you were there…And you were there…” Instead, we have the opportunity to see director Denis Villeneuve and writer Knight offer a full-blown reset.

That reset, of course, is shrouded in mystery, some intentional and some not. As it stands, Villeneuve is reportedly after someone more green to the business, the search for which will take place next year. On the writing side of things, Knight said of the opportunity and approach, “It has always been on my bucket list and it’s fantastic to be invited to do it – I can’t wait to get started. I’m hoping that, being a Bond fan for so many years, it will be imbued into me and I will be able to produce something that’s the same but different, and better, stronger and bolder.”

In the decades since the death of Ian Fleming in 1964 (with just two Bond films having been released and Goldfinger on the way), a number of writers have been commissioned to pen Bond books. The most recent came in 2023 from Charlie Higson, who also contributed a number of books in the Young Bond series.

Do you think killing off James Bond in No Time to Die worked?

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