Daniel Craig explains why he left James Bond role: 'This is it. I don't want to do any more' - Yahoo Entertainment

Warning: This station contains spoilers astir No Time to Die and the destiny of James Bond.

After 5 Bond films, Daniel Craig has officially handed successful his licence to kill. But the British histrion says helium sealed his character's destiny conscionable arsenic his archetypal 007 outing, 2006's Casino Royale, was hitting theatre screens.

“I was driving distant from the Berlin premiere of Casino Royale with [producer] Barbara Broccoli,” the 54-year-old histrion tells the Sunday Times successful a caller interview. “I had genuinely thought I would bash 1 Bond movie, past it would beryllium over. But by past we knew we had a deed connected our hands. I realized the enormity of it, truthful I said to Barbara, ‘How galore more? Three? Four?’ She said, ‘Four!’ I said, ‘OK. Then tin I termination him off?’ She said, ‘Yes.’”

And that's conscionable what happened with Craig's 5th and last crook arsenic James Bond, No Time to Die. Released past twelvemonth aft an 18-month-long hold owed to the COVID-19 pandemic, the franchise's 25th movie ended with the concealed cause dying, having chosen to sacrifice himself for the involvement of his family.

"I said, ‘This is it. I don’t privation to bash immoderate more,’” Craig says of going into his last film. Even so, helium wanted to springiness the spy a noble death, tasking Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who worked connected the film's screenplay, with creating an ending that showed Bond's humanity. infected with nanobots programmed to termination his person and their young daughter, Bond stays down connected an land helium knows volition soon beryllium struck by missiles.

"Real calamity is erstwhile you person perfectly nary choice,” Craig notes. “We had to find a mode to marque his decease nary choice. It was the happiest Bond had ever been due to the fact that he’d recovered precisely what helium was looking for. Like everyone connected Earth, helium was conscionable looking for love.”

Bond's decease besides presented an accidental for the beloved franchise — adjacent if the workplace wasn't rather acceptable to judge it.

"If we termination Bond, we tin statesman again,” Craig says. “I deliberation Barbara thought that too. But, bless them, the studio, MGM, were, like, ‘What are you talking about? Are you retired of your minds?’ There was reluctance. So we had to bash it successful secret, really.”

While it remains to beryllium seen erstwhile and however the Bond bid volition beryllium refreshed, Craig — present starring successful Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery — seems blessed with his quality to shingle up the 60-year-old franchise.

"I came successful guns blazing and everyone got angry," helium says of the contention surrounding his casting, which helium admitted being "bothered" by successful an interrogation with Yahoo Entertainment past year. "‘His ears instrumentality out! He’s blond! Blue eyes!’ I’m hardly the tall, acheronian alien Fleming wrote, but I thought, ‘We person to marque it new.’ We can’t conscionable go, ‘Here, audience, here’s the aforesaid aged worldly we ever did.’

“I cognize that sounds massively arrogant,” helium continues. “But it was a originative disruption. I felt Bond was large and pugnacious capable to instrumentality conscionable astir anything. If I’d ended up doing much [Bond], I truly would person pushed it. But Bond tin instrumentality it! It is not fragile. It’s robust. Sean Connery personified that quality successful a mode that volition ne'er spell away, truthful I thought, ‘What bash I bash to it?’”