Next James Bond movie reportedly delayed as Amazon deal throws 007 future up in the air

The beloved character won’t do so with the face of Daniel Craig, after the actor stepped away from the franchise, but rumours earlier this year were flying around about who would become the next 007. The likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jonathan Bailey and Henry Cavill have all been linked.

But over the past few months, all talk seems to have gone quiet - and there are no signs that any announcement will be imminent. Now, three years after the last Bond outing in cinemas, fans are simply wondering when the character will in fact return. It is the third longest gap between releases since the franchise started with Dr No in 1962.

It comes amid an Amazon takeover of MGM, the company behind James Bond, meaning that 007 is now under new command from one of the largest companies in the world. Reports emerging now suggest that Amazon will take their time in relaunching the franchise, and are planning much further into the future than the previous owners.

Speaking to The Times, entertainment lawyer Ajay Chowdhury said: “When Disney bought Lucasfilm there wasn’t a film for three years. Tons of work is being done, it’s just not sexy things like scripts. The Bond franchise is like a plot of land and Amazon are building the utilities.

“When Barbara Broccoli says they have no script, I think that’s technically true. They’ve got a concept and a plan to reinvent the franchise. They’re not going to make a one-off film and see how it does at the cinema like they did in the past.”

According to rumours, Amazon is planning out the next three or four James Bond films before any kind of production gets underway. Previously, MGM worked on one Bond movie at a time, and although the Daniel Craig era movies had some semblance of an over-arching story, many of the previous Ian Fleming adaptations were just treated as standalone movies.