The final trailer for the coming James Bond film No Time to Die has been released. The highly anticipated film has been teased for more than two years and reportedly marks Daniel Craig’s final role as the international spy.
In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, we’re shown a montage of Craig as 007 over the past four Bond films before cutting to his latest adventure. Although the film will not come out for another month in the UAE, for those who can’t wait, here are some key takeaways from the trailer to get excited about.
The release date is finally confirmed
After several delays, No Time to Die finally has a set release date: Friday, October 8 in the US, and Thursday, October 7 in the UAE.
The final title card in 2015’s Spectre made the promise that “James Bond will return” but didn’t specify when. Although the film was originally eyed for a 2019 release, production issues added to the delay, which moved it back a year to April 2020. However, the pandemic struck and caused further hold up.
Previous release dates for the film went from November 2020 to April 2021 to November 2021, before finally being moved to October 2021.
Craig’s swan song as James Bond
The trailer begins by showing clips and sound bites from Craig’s previous films as 007 in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre.
It also revisits some of Bond’s most memorable moments including the Aston Martin crash, jumping into a crumbling train and meeting Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux).
Although this is the 25th film in the James Bond series, the trailer is built up to make it seem almost as though No Time to Die is the final conclusion in a five-part series.
Confirmed: James Bond is no longer 007
In a blink-and-you-might-miss-it scene, there’s a clip showing Bond dressed up and attending an event in a ballroom – something that’s been shown in previous trailers.
However, in the new trailer, the scene is played out from a different perspective where someone is using facial recognition software to scan for double-0 agents. The lens scans Craig’s face and the programme says “no match” with “007” listed on the bottom left corner, which brings us to our next point.
What will the role of the new 007 be?
One of the biggest questions is what happens after this film. There have been theories that James Bond isn't the actual name of a person, but rather a code name. Depending on what happens in No Time to Die, this could potentially open up more diverse casting in the future.
Lashana Lynch has been cast as the new 007 but isn’t the new James Bond (at least, not yet) so it’ll be interesting to see what her role is in the franchise going forward.
What if James Bond dies?
Another theory flooding the internet is that Bond may actually die in the film, which would be ironic given the title. The trailer seems a bit fatalistic in its tone, but this might be owing to Craig's final performance rather than the actual death of the character.
Although, if writers want to go down that route, rather than finally having Bond meet his match in villain Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), maybe he'll get some kind of Dark Knight ending with him faking his death in order to finally have some peace and enjoy his life after MI6.
