On December 3rd 2018, filming got underway at Pinewood Studios on the 25th James Bond 007 film, No Time To Die.
It had taken a long time to get this far. The 24th film, Spectre, had been released in 2015 to a mixed critical reception (although it did very well at the box office), and there had been speculation that Daniel Craig would be retiring as 007 in the aftermath of its release (he certainly gave one or two grumpy-sounding interviews speculation as such).
However, Craig eventually decided to stay on, and what looked like a breakneck production got underway. The film was due to be released just over a year after filming started.
What’s more, an awful lot was resting on this one. This time, we’ve been told, it really is Daniel Craig bowing out of the role of James Bond, and handing the tuxedo and Walther PPK over to another actor. Given that he’s been the incumbent Bond since 2005, it really is the end of an era here.
However, much has happened since. In the time since filming began to now, new games consoles have been announced and released (that you can find here), new casinos have launched (that you can find here), and a new government has even taken over in America and the UK.
Then, of course, there’s been the global pandemic. The first film to announce its delay when word rose of Coronavirus was No Time To Die, and it was something of a shock. For many people, that’s when they realised for the first time just what an impact it was going to have on us all. Of course, since then pretty much every other major film has been delayed as well.
Furthermore, Daniel Craig’s James Bond finale has been delayed a couple of times. We were due to see the film in April 2020, and then it got delayed to November 2020. Then, after the marketing campaign was in full swing for the second time, it was pushed back again to April 2021. And now, as things currently stand, it sits on a release date of October 8th 2021.
The hope is that with vaccinations taking effect around the world, the impact of this awful pandemic might finally, finally be dampening. That some degree of normality can resume and we can get a lot of our normal lives back.
For fans of James Bond, the six year gap between Spectre and No Time To Die’s release is now as long as the gap between Licence To Kill and GoldenEye. Here’s hoping that at the end of this particular adventure – assuming we finally get to see it this November – it won’t be anywhere near as long for James Bond to return. Whoever will be playing 007 when he does, of course…