Judi Dench says Daniel Craig ordered her death. James Bond just got a lot scarier | James Bond

NNow that the next James Bond actor is about to be revealed, perhaps it’s a good time to take a close look at the previous 007 with light eyes. Because, while the reputations of all the previous Bonds have solidified over the years – in chronological order: sexy, wooden, camp, boring and silly – the Daniel Craig era is finally coming into focus. And it turns out he was actually the angel of death.

Obviously, anyone who’s seen No Time to Die knows this, because that film ended with Bond exploding in a hail of missile fire. But according to Judi Dench’s new memoir, Is It Too Late to Run?, it was also Craig’s decision to kill M as well.

Dench recounts the moment she learned her character would be sent to the Skyfall glue factory. “I was taken to the Wolseley restaurant by Barbara (Broccoli), Michael (G Wilson) and Sam (Mendes) – I don’t think Daniel Craig was there – and they described the plot and told me they were going to hustle me,” she wrote.

“The press reported that I cried when I was told I was being replaced,” she continues. “Of course I didn’t cry. Why the hell should I cry after 20 glorious years and eight Bond films – which, by the way, is one more than Roger Moore, the longest-serving 007 to date.” However, the key detail is this: “Apparently it was Daniel’s idea to have me killed.” »

Now, anyone playing Bond must have a fair amount of ice in their veins. After all, this is a character who travels the world murdering people without a single glimmer of remorse. But there’s a big difference between shooting an extra in an ill-fitting Soviet uniform and being the one responsible for putting Dame Judi Dench out of work. Could you do this? Could you look at lovely Judi, with all her trees and champagne and anecdotes, and decide she won’t star in any more James Bond films? Could you? Even though for a lot of these films she was the only good thing? Could you? I couldn’t.

Daniel Craig, on the other hand, doesn’t care. According to him, it was his idea to ensure that Bond eventually died, asking Broccoli: “Can I kill him at the end of the fourth, please?” on the way back from the Berlin premiere of Casino Royale in 2006. And now we learn it was his idea to outdo Dench’s M as well.

You have to wonder if Broccoli vetoed any of his suggestions. Maybe he wanted to shoot Q with a cannon at a log chipper. Maybe he wanted to trade the Aston Martin for a Ford Cortina. After all, he spent a lot of No Time to Die in a comfy sweater, so who can say? I have a feeling the only red line Broccoli would have would be if Craig asked him if he could make a derogatory face while looking at a Sony Ericsson cell phone. But that’s all.

On the one hand, it’s great. By being so obsessed with killing Bond and those close to him, Craig became a true iconoclast – and anyway, at this point in 007’s long and sometimes dreary history, things needed shaking up. What’s more, Craig expressly wanted to be able to tell the entire Bond story, and he undeniably did just that.

But he set a difficult precedent for the next one. Whoever the next James Bond is, whether it’s Jack Lowden or Callum Turner, they’ll have to find a way to up the ante by killing Dame Judi. And that is surely an impossible task.

How can you successfully assassinate a national treasure? Perhaps they could suggest hiring the only person more beloved than Dench, Sir David Attenborough, only to have him trip and fall under the blades of a combine harvester in the cold open of the next film. Maybe they could poison the audience at the premiere. Perhaps they could directly have Bond shoot a procession of puppies at different intervals? Nobody knows, but the bar is high.