Daniel Craig Explains The Two Reasons Why His James Bond Had To Die

After a long-delayed release, we said goodbye last year to Daniel Craig's James Bond in "No Time to Die," and we still haven't recovered. After spending nearly 18 years playing the iconic character, Craig transitioned out of the role and he's shown no signs of slowing down just yet. Recently, he's been channeling his inner southern gentleman again, reprising the role of detective Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion," the follow-up to the murder mystery hit "Knives Out."

While promoting the upcoming theatrical release of "Glass Onion," Craig shared with the LA Times (via Entertainment Weekly) the two reasons why his James Bond had to die — and, to be quite frank, his reasoning shouldn't come as too much of a surprise: 

"One, for the franchise, was that resets start again, which [the franchise] did with me. And 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 idea of finding someone younger for the role makes sense, especially given the stunts involved in the Bond films. That said, it is highly unlikely that we'll see a truly young 007. Bond screenwriter Michael G. Wilson is on record having said that casting younger doesn't mesh with the overall visualization of the character as a "veteran" who has "been through the wars, so to speak" and has "probably been in the SAS or something" before becoming a secret agent. As for Craig's second reason for Bond's demise ... it's personal.

Craig's second reason for why it was James Bond's time to die is pretty simple. "The other [reason] was so that I could move on. I don't want to go back," Craig shared. "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."

If you're fuzzy about the details, towards the end of "No Time to Die," Bond becomes infected with a nanobot virus that is programmed to kill Léa Seydoux's Dr. Madeleine Swann and their daughter, Mathilde. Knowing that he poses a threat to the ones he loves, Bond decides to stay on the island that houses the nanobot factory and accept his fate. He is presumably killed when missiles strike the island to ensure the destruction of the nanobot technology. A fitting end, considering the trajectory of the character's arc across the series.

While Craig's Bond dying was originally planned out between him and producer Barbara Broccoli when he signed on, that doesn't soften the blow entirely. But the exit has freed him up to pursue other projects that allow him to explore. If his work with Rian Johnson is anything to go by, there's plenty more the actor has to offer outside of what we've seen from him as James Bond.