Halfway through the first trailer for No Time to Die—the 25th James Bond film, and the last to star Daniel Craig as the lead MI6 agent—007 delivers a warning: “History isn’t kind to men who play god.”
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Presumably, he’s talking to Safin, the villain played by Rami Malek, but in some ways the Bond franchise has been playing god for decades. Each time one 007 retires, the franchise just reincarnates the agent into a new body. Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Craig, among others—the list goes on and on. Now that Craig has sworn he’ll never come back for another installment, a new actor eventually will join that list, and the torch will get passed.
Judging by this first trailer, that new Bond could be Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel’s Maria Rambeau). Ever since she was cast, there have been rumors that she might take up the mantle. This trailer doesn’t prove that she's the new 007, just a double-0, but it also hints that she’s the future of the franchise. As soon as her Nomi appears, she warns that “the world’s moved on, Commander Bond” before promising him: “You get in my way and I will put a bullet in your knee … the one that works.” That’s quite the introduction, literally threatening to kneecap the old guard if it gets in her way.
But sometimes that’s just how it is. This Bond film, directed by Beasts of No Nation’s Cary Joji Fukunaga, is the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one. In addition to Bond 25 being Craig’s last, it’s also the first since #MeToo and Time’s Up. It’s cowritten by Fleabag and Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose involvement made Lynch squeal with excitement. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, British girl just like me,’” she told The Hollywood Reporter recently. “‘She’s going to know how to actually take care of women onscreen.’”
Bond fans will see if she’s right when No Time to Die hits theaters April 10, 2020.