Edlitz told us: “The producers have many different ways to go. They can turn to Ian Fleming’s books. In them, a seemingly dead 007 finds his way back to the land of the living. If the producers wanted to take a page out of Fleming’s novels, then we may see that 007 survived the attack.” The expert was referencing how the Bond author toyed with killing off his character at the end of From Russia, with Love, only for Dr No to open with him surviving a poisoning. Then in You Only Live Twice he was presumed dead but ultimately returned in The Man with the Golden Gun.
Interestingly, No Time To Die’s ending was partly inspired by the You Only Live Twice novel, with 007 blowing up a lair and being presumed dead only to have survived. Whatever the case, Edlitz is now starting to doubt they do bring Craig’s Bond back in some form, even if it may be one of many options.
Edlitz continued: “EON productions can return to the Bond that Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan played.Those five actors played Bond at different points in his career. Craig played an entirely different version of the character.
“Going forward, I suspect that we might see yet a third timeline. That new timeline will not be dependent on any of the events from the previous movies. However, many of the Bond tropes that we know, and love will be present. Fans need not worry. James Bond will return.” As for No Time To Die’s conclusion, the expert believes it does make sense for Craig’s incarnation of 007.
READ MORE: James Bond: How Ian Fleming ‘killed off’ 007 but then undid his death