THE next James Bond film won’t hit cinemas until spring 2028, marking the longest gap in the franchise’s 64-year history.
Amazon Studios, now overseeing the 26th Bond movie, have yet to name Daniel Craig’s successor, pushing the release date back by two years.
Craig’s final outing as 007 came in 2021’s No Time To Die, which itself arrived six years after Spectre.
The previous longest break between Bond films was six years and four months, between 1989’s Licence to Kill and 1995’s GoldenEye.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve is teaming up with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight on the new script, but the final draft won’t be ready until winter.
Amazon executives Amy Pascal and David Heyman are currently compiling a shortlist of actors to replace Craig, with meetings expected this summer.
Bookies have already tipped Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as frontrunners for the iconic role.
An insider told The Sun newspaper, “Bond won’t be back until 2028.
“The production mindset’s gone from ‘Let’s hurry this through’ to ‘Make sure we get this right.’ Denis wanted a long break after Dune 3 and has some broad ideas on the script.
“Realistically, if they can make January 2027 work for pre-production then that will be a success.”
Filming is expected to run through summer 2027, with post-production taking up to a year.
Lucy Fleming, niece of Bond author Ian Fleming, praised the careful approach, joking about the casting: “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you!”