Daniel Craig doesn’t want to go back to James Bond

Daniel Craig has starred in five James Bond films in 15 years and is officially done with the franchise.

After Craig’s Bond died in the 2021 episode “No Time to Die,” the actor told the Los Angeles Times that it was necessary for the franchise and his career to be “reset.”

“Two things, one for me and one for the franchise,” Craig said. “One for the franchise was the resets starting again, huh [the franchise] done with me And I thought, ‘Well, you have to reset again.’ So let’s kill my character and find another Bond and find another story. start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30.”

Craig continued: “The other was so I could keep going. I do not want to go back. I suppose I should be so happy if they asked me back, but the fact of the matter is I have to stop. The sacrifice he makes in the film was for love and there is no greater sacrifice. So it seemed like a good thing to end with… I’m very, very lucky to have gotten to a point in my career as an actor where I can now go, ‘You know what? I’ll pick and choose.’”

The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery also admitted that he’s “pissed” with himself for bringing up the physicality of the role instead of emphasizing the creative aspects of the franchise.

“It’s my fault because I kind of didn’t shut up that I had all these injuries,” Craig said. “I’m mad at myself for even talking about her. I put a lot more work into the creative side of these films than I did the physical side of these films.”

Craig added, “The physical side of the films was just the job. I had to do it. I trained, learned the fights, that’s kind of my brain that doesn’t work. The rest, the look, the feel, the kind of temperature of the movies, getting Sam Mendes to direct Skyfall, that was the hard work. Going to the gym is hard work, but it’s not really hard work for the brain.”

Craig infamously said in 2015 that he’d rather “slit my wrists” than play Bond again after “Spectre,” calling the importance of Bond’s physical appearance as an actor a “drag” (via The Guardian).

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