The end of an era is soon coming for the James Bond franchise. Daniel Craig, who debuted as 007 in 2006's Casino Royale, will make his fifth and final appearance as Great Britain's most famous spy in Bond 25. With Sam Mendes, who helmed Skyfall and Spectre, stepping away from Bond's world, MGM and Eon had to find someone else to helm Craig's last adventure as the popular badass, and it looked like Slumdog Millionaire's Danny Boyle would be that director. However, it's been officially announced that Boyle has left the production.
This news comes straight from the official channels, i.e. Daniel Craig and Eon brass Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who announced today that due to "creative differences," Danny Boyle has exited Bond 25. Whether we learn more about why Boyle opted to leave Bond 25 in the near future or not remains to be seen, but now the next step for those involved with the project is to find a new director to replace him as soon as possible. Production is reportedly beginning at the end of the year, so if MGM and Eon want to stay on schedule, they'll need to start looking for candidates to fill Boyle's shoes quickly.
It was reported back in February that Danny Boyle, whose credits also include Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours and Steve Jobs, was being eyed to direct Bond 25, and the following month, it was confirmed that he had the job. Boyle was developing the script with frequent collaborator John Hodge, but five months later, apparently something happened behind the scenes that led to the decision for Boyle to leave the project. It's unclear if Boyle's exit from Bond 25 means that Hodge's script won't be used or if it's still being kept. If it's the former, then perhaps the Bond 25 team might turn back to the script penned by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but if they decide to hire someone new to work on the story from scratch, then Bond 25 being delayed is practically guaranteed.
Aside from Bond 25 marking Daniel Craig's last outing as James Bond, few details about the project has been revealed yet. Craig is so far the only actor attached, but Ben Whishaw, who plays Q, has said that he believes he'll be back. It's also rumored that the main villain will be a woman, and Helene Bonham Carter and Angelina Jolie have supposedly been eyed for the role. While Sony handled distribution on Craig's first four James Bond movies, Universal is taking the reins for releasing Bond 25 internationally, while MGM will handle the domestic release.
As things stand now, Bond 25 is still set to hit theaters on November 8, 2019, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on this project's development, including whether or not that release date will be pushed down. For now, make sure to look through our 2018 release schedule to find out what movies are arriving later this year.
