Daniel Craig wanted James Bond to die so he could never return to role

If Daniel Craig's version of James Bond had not shuffled off this mortal coil at the end of No Time to Die, might the actor have been tempted to return to the 007 franchise and play the role for a sixth time? Maybe. And according to Craig, that is why Bond had to die.

In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Craig explains that there were two big reasons for Bond's demise in the film. "Two things, one for myself and one for the franchise," the actor says. "I was like, 'Well, you need to reset again.' So let's kill my character off and go find another Bond and go find another story. Start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30."

The second reason was indeed designed to benefit Craig and ensure he could never return to Bond-land. "The other was so that I could move on," he says. "I don't want to go back. I suppose I should be so lucky if they were to ask me back, but the fact is I need to move on from it. The sacrifice that he makes in the movie was for love, and there's no greater sacrifice. So it seemed like a good thing to end on."

Craig had previously decided to leave the role after 2015's Spectre. "I finished that movie with a broken leg," the actor told EW in 2019. Craig underwent arthroscopic surgery after injuring his knee while filming a fight scene with his Spectre costar Dave Bautista. "I had to question myself: Was I physically capable of doing [another one] or did I want to do another one? Because that phone call to your wife saying 'I've broken my leg' is not pleasant."

He was ultimately lured back to the franchise by series producers Barbara Broccoli and Michel G. Wilson for No Time to Die. "He felt at the end of the last movie he'd kind of done it," Broccoli previously told EW. "I said to him, 'I don't think you have, I think there's still more of the story of your Bond to tell.' Fortunately, he came around to agree with that."

Craig will next be seen in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, released in cinemas on November 23.

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