Speculation about Daniel Craig‘s future as secret agent 007 has been running rife ever since producers announced the 25th Bond film last month. But we might finally have an answer, thanks to an unlikely source.
Daniel was down to star in Purity, a new TV show for Showtime based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Jonathan Franzen. He’ll play Andreas Wolf, an East German agent provocateur who leads a Wikileaks-type organization called The Sunshine Project.
When we told you about it way back in June last year, it seemed like yet another reason he wouldn’t be reprising the James Bond role for a fifth time.
With filming on Purity expected to start this year, Daniel would be busy on set just as the next Bond installment went into production. That, plus Daniel’s own reticence about reprising the character, meant we had to face a hard truth: the Craig Bond era might be over.
Now, though, things are looking very different indeed. It appears filming on Purity has been bumped by a couple of years. That’s right: years.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Showtime CEO David Nevins told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour: “He’s doing Bond first and I can’t say anything about what I know or don’t know about Bond, [but] It’s possible [Purity] may not shoot until 2019.”
Whoa. If it’s true then this is big news. Unconfirmed reports had suggested Daniel is close to signing on the dotted line, but we still didn’t have any hard evidence — until now.
And what with producers being very cagey about who’ll play the suave, martini-loving spy in Bond 25, it’s the kind of leak that would make M very angry indeed.
Are you hoping Daniel will play Bond again?