8 Things We Want To See In The Next James Bond Movie

After years of wading through rumours about the future of the James Bond franchise, we now at last know when the next installment of the series, the 25th outing overall, will land. The film, which has yet to be officially titled, is set to arrive in cinemas on November 8th, 2019. All we know about Bond 25 for sure right now is that Daniel Craig will be appearing in it, making it his fifth appearance as the super spy. With Skyfall and Spectre director Sam Mendes not returning, the likes of Yann Demange, Denis Villeneuve and David Mackenzie are all under consideration to helm the film. Story-wise, reports have alleged that Bond 25's working title is Shatterhand, with a plot featuring a blind baddie and a trip to Croatia - though that remains unconfirmed. But enough about what we might see. The better question is, what do we want to see in the next James Bond movie? From returning characters to a different type of villain, here's our wishlist. As always, if you feel we've left something important out, be sure to let us know by dropping a comment in the usual place. 8) More 00 Agents Even though James Bond is 007, we've seen him encounter precious few other 00 agents across the fifty-plus year history of the franchise. Instead, it's become something of a running joke that these agents would be referenced or maybe briefly glimpsed in the movies, without becoming major players. The one exception to this is Sean Bean's character, Alec Trevelyan AKA 006, in GoldenEye - and he's since gone down as one of the best Bond villains ever. I think that proves that we need to see more 00s turn up in the franchise in the future, don't you? In Spectre, for instance, Bond stole an Aston Martin DB10 that Q had designed specifically for 006 (presumably not Sean Bean). Wouldn't it be fun if we got to meet this agent in Bond 25? Maybe there could even be a rivalry between the two? It must be difficult operating in Bond's shadow, after all. The best option would probably be to make this other 00 a woman, given all the talk recently of a female Bond. As the series stands, it's always been faintly ridiculous that James Bond is literally the only MI6 agent who ever seems to get assigned any vaguely important cases. With the increased role for M, Moneypenny and Q in recent movies, it would make a lot of sense if we could actually get to know some other field agents as well. 7) Felix Leiter Returns Though not a name which is particularly well-known with casual viewers, Felix Leiter is one of the most enduring characters in the James Bond franchise. Four out of the six Bonds so far have encountered the American agent, who's usually portrayed as James' best friend. After the character was retired in a gruesome fashion back in 1988's License to Kill, Leiter was rebooted for 2005's Casino Royale, now played by Jeffrey Wright. For the first time, we saw the initial meeting between James and Felix, and it teased how the pair would become firm allies in the future. And then, bar an appearance in 2007's Quantum of Solace, Wright's Leiter completely disappeared from the franchise. He got a brief namecheck in Spectre (Bond tells Lucia Sciarra to contact him for protection), but that was about it. This is a great shame, as Felix can be a brilliant foil for Bond and, as we've just discussed, is one of the rare other secrets agents we get to become acquainted with. Wright - nowadays known for playing Bernard in Westworld - is also excellent in the role, perhaps the best of the eight Leiters we've seen so far, so it seems a big shame to waste him if they have the opportunity to include the actor. 6) Bring Back Mr. Hinx The Bond franchise has produced many a memorable henchmen over the years and the most recent addition to that prestigious line-up is Mr. Hinx, played by Guardians of the Galaxy's Dave Bautista, who worked for Blofeld in Spectre. With his ripped physique squeezed into a smart suit, Hinx was a perfect throwback to the likes of Oddjob from Goldfinger. Unfortunately, after a promising set-up, the character was severely wasted in that movie. Let's hope, then, that he pulls a Jaws and returns for Bond 25. Previously, Richard Kiel's metal-mouthed henchman proved so popular in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me that he immediately returned for 1979's Moonraker. While Hinx obviously hasn't made the cultural impact of Jaws, he's still worthy of making a return appearance due to how weirdly truncated his role in Spectre was. Just like horror movie villains, James Bond henchmen always seem to have met their match before returning from the dead for one last fight. Unfortunately, Hinx never returned after his train fight with Bond halfway through the movie. Maybe he could square off with 007 again in Bond 25's opening sequence then, in order to follow this grand tradition? 5) Reduced Role For Blofeld After an absence of over three decades, Spectre finally reintroduced James Bond's nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of the titular criminal organization and he of the bald head and Persian cat that have sunk into pop culture. Pair the character's long history with the perfect casting of Christoph Waltz and Blofeld should have been one of the best Bond baddies ever. Unfortunately, the film ended up dropping the ball with the character. Seriously, whose idea was it to pinch the joke plot twist that the hero and the villain are secret brothers from Austin Powers 3 and play it straight? Unusually for a Bond villain, Spectre left Blofeld still alive, with the character carted off by MI6 at the end. Obviously, this means we haven't seen the last of the big bad. Let's hope, though, that Blofeld's not portrayed as the main villain of the movie once again. One of the joys of the franchise is how we're guaranteed a fresh foe for Bond to fight each time and going back to Blofeld would prevent that. It would be far better, then, to do a reverse of the structure of the Sean Connery films, in which Blofeld operated in the background before eventually coming to the fore. Now that we've met Waltz's Blofeld, the villain can go back into the shadows and pull the strings from behind the scenes. 4) A More Mature Bond Woman (Done Right This Time) Spectre got a lot of positive buzz before it came out in 2015 due to the inclusion of the then 51 year old Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra, making her the oldest Bond Girl ever (a whole 12 years older than the previous record holder, Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore in Goldfinger). This brought a lot of talk of Bond Girls being rebranded as 'Bond Women' and the franchise finally treating its female characters with more respect. Unfortunately, in the event, Bellucci's character was a total letdown. Just a mere plot device, Sciarra was a grieving gangster's moll who Bond seduced, pumped for information and abandoned. All in all, she appeared in only a fifteen minute segment of the film. After all the hype around the actress' inclusion, in the end, the main Bond girl of the film was Lea Seydoux (20 years Daniel Craig's junior). Seeing as Craig will be into his fifties by the time Bond 25 arrives, the franchise should keep employing more mature Bond women going forward. And, you know, maybe they could be given actual characters next time around? 3) Don't Kill Madeline Swann Spectre ended on a shocking note, as Bond drove off into the sunset, leaving behind his life as a secret agent to have a happy ending with his latest love Madeline Swann. Longtime fans would have recognized that this is calling back to one of the most infamous moments in the franchise and offers us a big clue as to what will happen in Bond 25. Back in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, George Lazenby's 007 ended the movie driving off with his newly-wedded bride Tracey (Diana Rigg). Unfortunately, tragedy struck when Blofeld mowed down Tracey in a drive-by-shooting. A similar scene also happened in Craig's debut, Casino Royale, in which Eva Green's Vesper Lynd died after Bond had fallen for her. It doesn't take much to assume that it's not looking good for Swann, but let's hope that things don't play out that predictably. The obvious story arc for Bond 25 would be to have Bond go on a revenge mission after Madeline's killed. This might be a good idea... if Quantum of Solace hadn't already used that plot just two films ago. We're not quite sure how they should handle it - obviously Bond can't stay with Madeline as he needs to get back on the job - but to have the character bumped off would just be a cheap redo of a scenario we've seen played out twice before. 2) A Bond Villain That Taps Into Contemporary Times Nowadays, the classic idea of a megalomaniacal villain who has some cockamamie plan for world domination is a hoary old trope. Daniel Craig's films, then, have taken different approaches to the role of the Bond villain, which has resulted in some hits and some misses. The challenge might be even greater for Bond 25, too, as the world has changed significantly since 2015's Spectre. Interestingly, earlier this year longtime Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade talked about how they thought the next film should "say something about Bond’s place in the world, which is Britain’s place in the world." They also argued that "with people like Trump, the Bond villain has become a reality." Let's hope that Purvis and Wade, who are once again signed on to script Bond 25, have thought some more about what they can say about the world around us in the next movie. What contemporary concerns could they tap into and explore through the next villain? Could Bond be about to face a corrupt head of state? Or possibly something reflecting the division in Britain surrounding the issue of Brexit? We're not really sure what the best option is, but it would be great to have a Bond film that actually made us think as well as thrill us. 1) Daniel Craig's Last Appearance Let's be clear. Daniel Craig has been an amazing Bond. Thanks to him, the series has been steered away from the excessive camp and (most of the) dated attitudes that had built up by the later Pierce Brosnan era and is now more successful than the franchise has ever been. It's not for nothing that many fans believe Craig to be the best Bond since Sean Connery. However, even the best have to call it a day at some point and we think that time is nigh for Daniel Craig. When Bond 25 arrives in 2019, the actor will be 51. While that's still an acceptable age to play an action hero - just ask Robert Downey Jr. (52) and Tom Cruise (55) - there's an argument to be made that Bond should be a younger man. Craig definitely doesn't want to do a Roger Moore and play 007 until he's pushing 60. Also, each James Bond is a product of his time and, in some ways, Craig's Bond is a hangover from the trend of gritty reboots from the mid-00s. Nowadays, audiences seem to have swung back to lighter-hearted, more far-fetched fare, so a new Bond needs to be found to match that. Perhaps the most important reason, though, is that it makes the most sense for Bond 25 to be Craig's last from a story point of view. There are currently plot threads hanging from Spectre, but one more movie could wrap those up and act as a neat bow to tie Craig's era as James Bond together.