The Bond franchise has been facing uncertainty and upheaval ever since Daniel Craig holstered his Walther PPK three years ago, but today the prospects got much brighter with the first definitive piece of news about the next film in the series: Denis Villeneuve will be directing.
Villeneuve has been on a heater with prestige blockbusters, spearheading the acclaimed Dune movies, one of the better legacy sequels in recent history with Blade Runner 2049, and original films like Arrival and Sicario. (My personal favorite Denis: the underrated Jake Gyllenhaal-mindfuck Enemy.) His appointment comes at the hands of producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, who are steering the Aston Martin after longtime stewards Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson sold the franchise to Amazon after years of creative differences about how to proceed post-Craig. That move left fans worried about what this beloved series could look when Jeff Bezos is calling the shots.
Villeneuve scored the gig just a week after Matt Belloni reported that the top contenders alongside Denis were Jonathan Nolan, Edward Berger, Paul King and Edgar Wright. That list sparked some debate on Film Twitter that Bond films from journeymen directors—like, say, Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell—are better than the installments helmed by capital-a auteurs. There’s also an argument that Villeneuve’s penchant for moody movies about Difficult Men promises to deliver more of the same from the Craig run, when the prospect of a new era could’ve offered a chance for a vibe shift.
In a statement he released with the announcement, Villeneuve declared himself a “die-hard Bond fan,” saying that “Some of my earliest movie-going memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr. No with Sean Connery… To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come.” Denis may, in some regards, be a safe pick but still an exciting one—and ultimately, the right decision. Some anarchists may have wanted Paddington’s Paul King, but the first Bond film to be produced by Amazon, Heyman + Pascal, and for the first time ever, not from a member of the Broccoli family, needs a steady hand to guide it. Appointing a guy who’s already proven several times over that he can make IMAX-scale, 15 perforations-per-frame spectacle is the first truly reassuring move that’s been made in a very long time. Just off the top: think of the Sicario border shootout, the stomach-churning tension of the Atreides family siege in Dune, Jared Leto’s creepy villain in Blade Runner, and imagine those elements in service of a Bond context. This new agent might not smile once during the film, but it will be a banger nonetheless.
For what it’s worth, Villeneuve is already at work on a big-budget, high stakes blockbuster sequel in Dune: Messiah, due Christmas 2026. Which, in movie math, would likely mean we aren’t getting a new Bond adventure until around Christmas 2027 at the absolute earliest. But Pascal and Heyman’s biggest decision still looms: who will be the next 007?
