James Bond Producers Always Ask Two Questions Before Starting Each Movie

007 may be the number that everyone associates with James Bond, since it's his official M16 designation. However, for producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who hold the reins to Bond through Eon Productions, there are not actually seven questions they ask themselves before mounting a new Bond production. There are only two.

"No Time to Die," the 25th film in the series, brings an end to Daniel Craig's 007 tenure. There are those of us who think he's the best Bond, and there are plenty of others who are already excited to speculate about who the next Bond might be. Broccoli recently revealed that the search for the next Bond won't begin until 2022, as she and Wilson want Craig "to have his time of celebration" in the here and now of 2021.

We'll have to wait until next year at the earliest, then, to get an answer to the all-important question of, "Who is the next James Bond going to be?" (I vote for Richard Madden). In the meantime, the producers spoke to CNN (via ScreenRant), where they revealed the two questions they always have in mind when they begin preparing to make the next Bond movie:

1. "What is the world going to be afraid of in two or three years when the film comes out?"
2. "What are the emotional and personal challenges Bond will face?"

The third unspoken question (in my mind) is, "Who is the best Bond and why is it Daniel Craig?"

Broccoli elaborated further on the thinking behind these two questions, explaining, "The combination of those two things means that we do something fresh each time." Wilson chimed in to say, "Of course, now it turned out to be four years hence because of COVID."

It's really been six years since the last Bond movie, "Spectre," which opened in the United States in November 2015. "No Time to Die" was originally slated for 2019 back when it had Danny Boyle on board as director, but then Boyle left the project and "Beasts of No Nation" and "True Detective" season 1 auteur Cary Fukunaga came in. That put it back on track for April 2020, right up until it was one of the first major releases to be postponed as the coronavirus spread.

Now, at long last, "No Time to Die" is in theaters in the U.K., with a U.S. release soon to follow in one week. As she discussed predicting what the world is going to be afraid of in a few years, Wilson added: 

"You have to get out your crystal ball and take a stab at it. In this particular case, I think we came pretty close to what the world is concerned about."

No one could have predicted COVID except perhaps the world's scientists and Steven Soderbergh. The title of "No Time to Die" almost sounds like a warning not to venture out to theaters in the middle of a pandemic, but moviegoers will finally have the option to see it in the U.S. starting Friday, October 8, 2021.