Gaps Between James Bond Movies Are Good, Actually
This might not have been the plan, but this pattern always works out for the best.
From 1962 to 1965, there were four back-to-back James Bond movies. Like the MCU at its peak, the beginning of the 007 film franchise produced a new movie nearly every single year. But then, there was a two-year gap between Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967). Later, the gaps between Bond films — and Bond film eras — became more pronounced. While these periods of waiting seem frustrating while they’re happening, the reality is that whenever the James Bond franchise has had big gaps between movies, the venerable secret agent tends to come back stronger than ever.
A recent interview in The Guardian with Jennifer Salke — the global boss of MGM Studios — revealed that she believes that the world will wait for James Bond to return. “The global audience will be patient,” she said. “We don’t want too much time between films, but we are not concerned at this point.” Here’s the thing: Historically, she’s not only correct, but it’s also likely that a gap between Daniel Craig’s last film in 2021 and whatever the next Bond film is, could result in a renaissance for the Bond brand. And we know that because it’s happened many times before.
Bond reboots are forever
The history of Bond comebacks is the history of Bond.
While just two years passed between Sean Connery’s last official Bond movie in 1971 and the first Roger Moore film in 1973, there was, interestingly, right in the middle of Roger Moore’s tenure, a three-year gap. After The Man With the Golden Gun in 1974, Moore didn’t return as Bond until 1977 with The Spy Who Loved Me. The reason for this slightly longer interval between films is vaguely analogous to what’s happening now: behind-the-scenes production changes. The Spy Who Loved Me was the first Bond film in which founding Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman was no longer involved, leading to contractual disputes that delayed the film even further. And yet The Spy Who Loved Me emerged from a crucible of uncertainty as a low-key reboot of the Moore era. This was the film that gave Moore a chance to crank up the humor, layer on the charm, and gave James Bond his unforgettable underwater Lotus Esprit. Carly Simon sang the theme song, “Nobody Does it Better,” and audiences were convinced, for a time, that it was true. James Bond came back from a hiatus utterly renewed.
In 1989, after the release of Timothy Dalton’s last Bond film, the franchise hit another setback. The details are complex, but suffice to say, Pathé Entertainment and MGM were involved in a messy rights lawsuit that suspended the franchise until December 1993, when the possibility of a new Bond began to be explored. Timothy Dalton was, at one point, set to return for a third film, but eventually, the franchise rebooted altogether in 1995 with Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in GoldenEye. Again, this was a fantastic moment of rebirth for the franchise. There were six years between the last Dalton Bond and the first Brosnan Bond, and that gap resulted in a healthy rejuvenation of the character, including the brilliant introduction of Judi Dench as Bond’s boss “M.”
You can see where this is going. By 2002, with Brosnan’s last Bond film, the franchise again went on hiatus. There was a four-year gap before Bond emerged again, this time played by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, which was probably the most formal reboot of the franchise to date insofar as it established a new beginning for Bond, and embraced a grittier, more grounded approach to the character, including many lines taken directly from Ian Fleming’s very first Bond novel.
Craig’s tenure lasted for five films, across 15 years. And within that era, the gaps between films once again produced great results. While there were only two years between Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, there were four more years before Skyfall dropped. Like Casino Royale had done in 2006, in 2012, Skyfall once again made Bond seem fresh, proving his absence only worked to the franchise’s advantage.
Bond movie or Bond TV?
Bond’s Aston Martin from Quantum of Solace. Could he drive different cars in different mediums?
Now, regardless of who plays James Bond in the next iteration of the franchise, history tells us that this waiting period is a usually good thing. Regardless of which actor plays Bond — and what form the franchise takes — this time of uncertainty could be positive. In the new Guardian interview, Salke didn’t rule out the idea that the traditional visual medium for James Bond could change. “When you are looking at iconic intellectual property like that, you look at what the entire long-term future might be,” she said responding to the question of a hypothetically Bond TV series. “Of course, you look at every facet.” To her point, Prime Video has already dropped a Bond-related TV series; the 2023 reality TV show, 007: Road to a Million.
That said, it’s worth repeating that Salke said she didn’t want “too much time between films” indicating a James Bond movie is likely the next project. But, of course, Bond has always existed in various media simultaneously. Currently in the world of best-selling novels, the James Bond universe is bigger than ever. In addition to Kim Sherwood’s 21st-century reboot Bond books, new adventures starring “Q” — Bond’s gadget master — is set to begin publishing in 2025, starting with the novel The Quantum of Menace. If the Q Mysteries and Sherwood’s Double O series can exist in the larger world of Bond literary adventures, couldn’t the same be true of the visual 007?
The literary rights and the film rights for Bond are controlled separately, and yet there’s no reason to believe that a TV Bond couldn’t exist alongside Movie Bond. We accept this kind of thing for Batman, why not 007 and his allies?
Whether the next Bond is actually multiple Bonds or just one isn’t really the point though. Clearly, an announcement about the next big splash for the franchise is right around the corner. And if history is any guide, James Bond’s next return could be better than ever.
