Daniel Craig’s stint as iconic British spy James Bond has officially come to a close. With No Time To Die going strong in theaters, longtime fans of the franchise have their sights set on the future of 007. Craig has held the role for a whopping 15 years and his exit from the franchise leaves a glaring hole. Although the star has expressed some humorous bitterness toward the person who will inevitably take over the role, Craig now has some rather blunt advice for the would-be Bond.
While producers are still adamant about not being too concerned over choosing the next 007, Daniel Craig is not shying away about speaking out to his successor. In an appearance on Kevin Hart’s podcast, Straight From the Hart, the actor seems to pull from that (mostly) faux bitterness and give some pretty straight forward advice for whoever takes over the reign of the 007 franchise. Here is the actor’s blunt first piece of advice:
There’s a couple of things I’d say, but I mean, one is don’t be shit.
While simply saying “don’t suck”, albeit in a more bluntly Brit way, doesn’t seem like advice at all rather than an obvious given, the fan-favorite star does go on to give some warmer words to the person who will eventually take over his iconic role. In the same interview, he says his real advice would be the next actor to truly take the role and put their own unique stamp on it. Here it is in his own words:
I would say you’ve got to grab it and make it your own. I think that’s the way to go forward. I mean, I just committed myself to it as much as I possibly could and tried to sort of elevate it as much as I could. I hope I’ve left it in a good place and I hope the next person can just make it fly. It’s an amazing franchise, I still think there’s a lot of stories to tell.
Daniel Craig is certainly beloved as 007, but surprisingly it wasn’t always that way. There were plenty of criticisms aimed at his casting in the beginning, but he proved them all wrong once audiences were actually able to see him on screen. It would seem that his advice is sound, seeing as he certainly was able to make his version of Bond one that is unique to him And needless to say, it still stands out as a stellar addition to the franchise.
The James Bond role is still very much up for grabs but, hopefully, whoever ends up with the title can get value from their predecessor’s experience-backed words of wisdom. Until the next era of 007 gets underway, you can still check out No Time To Die in theaters now as it is not available to stream at this time.