Next James Bond movie is in "safe hands" says Anthony Horowitz - but who will play 007?

That is the message from author Anthony Horowitz, who took over from Ian Fleming writing the Bond novels. Horowitz, who has written three 007 novels as well as the Alex Rider series, has been quick to reassure fans that Bond’s future is in “safe hands”.

It comes after Amazon MGM Studios, which recently took full creative control of Bond, announced that Amy Pascal and David Heyman would be producing the next 007 outing, almost four years after Daniel Craig’s swansong film No Time To Die.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Horowitz said: “I think Barbara Broccoli did an absolutely brilliant job in the years that she was in charge, but David Heyman, who I have met in the past, is a fan. He’s the man behind the Harry Potter films, and he is probably our most successful producer if not in the UK, in the entire world.

“And I do think [the film] with him and Amy Pascal is going to be in safe hands. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.

“I do think it was a mistake, if I may say so, to kill Bond at the end of the last film, and I regretted seeing that, because Bond, you can’t kill him, he is an icon. He is a legend. He is so much fun. He was a huge part of my life.

“But that’s sort of a hurdle they’re gonna have to overcome, probably, I imagine, by ignoring it completely. But I’m positive I can’t wait to see what they do next.”

Horowitz was commissioned by Fleming’s estate to write three James Bond novels - Trigger Mortis (2015), Forever And A Day (2018) and With A Mind To Kill (2022). Instead of drawin on this source material, it is believed Amazon will take Bond back into the 1950s/60s with a period piece.

The author added: “I’m against and opposed to the idea of burglarising books, changing books, cutting things out that offend us now, because I think that by looking at your books, we realise how far we’ve come, how much more sensitive and aware we are, how much smarter we are than we were then.

“I think the two can be together as long as you have the context and you understand that’s not how we do things now.”