The writer of the next James Bond movie, Steven Knight, is crafting the script without a specific 007 actor in mind. When directly asked by the Radio Timesif he was indeed writing the new screenplay for the current untitled new James Bond movie, Knight replied with a noncommittal “Er…yes.” So, should 007 fans be alarmed? Is the new story already too loosey-goosey? Shouldn’t the image of the new James Bond be in the writer’s mind before he puts pen to paper?
Well, no. This is fine for several reasons. And the most obvious reason why it’s fine is that it’s happened several times in the franchise’s history before.
Bond scripts have been written without a new Bond before
Obviously, the script for Dr. No (1962) — written by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkley Mather — was, of course, based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name. And, although it was the first James Bond movie, it was the sixth novel overall, and before it was a full-blown screenplay, it existed as a 43-page treatment penned by Maibaum and Wolf Mankowitz. And, maybe this goes without saying, but that treatment was written before Sean Connery had been cast.
Fast-forward to 2004, when Neal Purvis and Robert Wade originally began work on the script for Casino Royale with Pierce Brosnan in mind. This also happened with The Living Daylights, a script written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, which began development in 1985, and was in a very in-between Bond zone, similar to where we are now.
In short, from the beginning, through the middle, and up until the start of the Craig era, James Bond movies often had scripts in development in which Bond himself had not yet been given a face.
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Next James Bond movie release date window
The next James Bond movie, and the first under the new Amazon MGM regime, is set to be directed by Denis Villeneuve. That said, Villeneuve has to shoot Dune 3 first, so production of the next Bond can’t start until 2026 at the earliest. Could the movie come out in 2027? Possible. But unlikely. Considering Bond hasn’t been cast yet, the script is still underway, and Villeneuve is stuck on the planet Arrakis, 2028 feels like the earliest time that we’ll sip a martini with Mr. Bond again.
Related: The Next James Bond Installment Has Finally Confirmed a Title and Release Date
