FIVE WAYS DANIEL CRAIG CAN COME BACK AS BOND

I've been thinking about how much we'll miss Daniel Craig as Bond. As Bond fans we might have differing opinions on how we rate Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond, but I don't think we can question his dedication to the role. 

We don't know what is going to follow, and we may not fully appreciate how lucky we were to have Daniel. We might not know just how good we had it. 

I wasn't a fan of No Time To Die, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it's ambition. It definitely had some great moments. The Matera sequences I thought were extremely well done, the set design, the villains lair I thought looked astonishingly beautiful in that typical Bondian-dystopian way.

But the ending I found problematic. I don't think they should kill off Bond. It's not what I want from a Bond film. But that’s a different story. Bond got blown up at the end, I'm in no doubt that he was blown to smithereens and that was the end of Daniels incarnation of Bond. 

Daniel Craig was very pleased to be killed off as Bond, apparently he asked Barbara during Casino Royale if he could kill Bond off. But maybe Craig might want to come back as Bond one day? Connery did. So how could Craig come back as Bond if he was killed. 

I've thought of five ways, and none of them consist of a Bobby Ewing Dream-like scenario. 

1. What if the next series of Bond continuation novels were written from the first perspective as Bond, and the novels were narrated by Daniel Craig? 

Daniel Craig could just narrate the existing ones, although they are told from the close third person perspective, with the exception of For Your Eyes Only. I'd still buy them all over again. But I would love for them to try something different and have them told in the first person, a bit like Len Deighton does for Harry Palmer. If Craig were to narrate the next series of Bond novels told from the first person perspective then Craig would truly be back as Bond. 

2. Craig could come back and fill in the little time games between films. Or even within the films themselves. Let me explain. 

In No Time To Die we have Bond bung Madeline on a train and some years later we see him again in Jamaica. We can assume he was out there for 4-5 years. What was Bond doing in Jamaica for that time? I'd like to think he was still doing Bondian stuff, sneaking around, I could see him in an Equalizer kind of role, saving the locals from mafiosos, and of course enjoying copious amounts of sex. 

There is a nice little gap in Skyfall where he enjoys death. He turns into a professional drinker, and by the way, what a great title for a Bond film, Enjoying Death? 

Perhaps even if we do some proper de-aging we could get Craig pre Casino Royale, how did he get recruited by Mi6? By the way, if you haven't done already you can subscribe to the podcast There Will Be Bond as my friend Pete Brooker is breaking down Casino Royale Minute by Minute. 

Photo by Matthew Wiebe on Unsplash

3. Flashbacks

Well Judi Dench did it for Bond in Spectre. What if a film was to centre on Matilde (Bond's daughter) growing up, and Matilde is getting schooled by some videos pre-recorded by Bond before he was killed. 

I'm thinking, in the plane before he flew with Nomi to Safin's lair, he could have just recorded about 20-30 minutes’ worth of footage on his blower, and then gave that to Q to give to Matilde in the event of his death. I'd like to think there would be some great life lessons for Matilde on how to kick ass. Or perhaps just some decent cooking tutorials.

4. M's ghost 

Imagine the next film centres on M, and he is now a tortured soul as his brainchild Heracles (the nanobot operation) really brought about Bond's demise. So he has taken to drinking, he then has delusions that he is having conversations with Bond, and Daniel Craig is haunting him. Admittedly this would be a very surreal Bond film, but at least its original. 

5. Daniel Craig has Fallen 

This is my favourite. Daniel Craig has come back as Bond, and he is playing himself, Daniel Craig. He is attending a James Bond premiere. We see him watching himself on the big screen, playing James Bond, and guess what, the event gets taken over by terrorists, or extremists, or Just Stop Oil. 

Only Daniel Craig and his bodyguard, Gerrard Butler have escaped capture, because Craig had to go to the bathroom to take a whizz, and they are trapped in the Royale Albert Hall and have to take out the terrorists one by one. The film is called Daniel Craig has Fallen and imagine, we even have the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, it will be like Secret Cinema but enjoyable. 

Cover photo by Patrick Robert Doyle on Unsplash