Anthony Horowitz Says Killing 007 Was a Mistake — and Reveals Why He Refused to Write a James Bond Script

Anthony Horowitz has some thoughts about the way No Time to Die ended, and he is not shy about it. The author of three official 007 novels says killing James Bond was a mistake, and it is exactly the kind of headache that makes him not want to write a Bond movie in the first place.

Horowitz on Bond: legend, not mortal

While promoting his new TV mystery Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue, Horowitz told Radio Times he has never been asked to write a Bond screenplay and is honestly fine with that. Big-budget franchises are a lot of politics, a lot of notes, and a lot of patience.

"You need a thick skin for that business [of dealing with big-budget film producers]. I’m probably happier out of it."

His bigger sticking point: where the Daniel Craig era left things. In No Time to Die, Bond is poisoned and very much exploded. Horowitz thinks that choice breaks the myth.

"The last time we saw Bond he was poisoned and blown to smithereens – how will they get past the fact he is dead with a capital D? I think that was a mistake, because Bond is a legend. He belongs to everybody, he is eternal – except in that film."

And even if someone did hand him the keys to Bond 26 tomorrow, he says he would be stuck on page one.

"If I was asked tomorrow to write the script, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Where would you start? You can’t have him waking up in the shower and saying it was all a dream."

Quick hits from the chat

• Horowitz has penned three 007 novels but says he has never been invited to write a Bond film script.
• He is content to stay out of the studio meat grinder and its producer-heavy process.
• He thinks killing Bond in No Time to Die undercuts the character’s icon status.
• He is currently out promoting his TV series Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue.

So... what about Bond 26?

Here is the part where the inside-baseball stuff gets a little confusing. In practical terms, the next Bond movie will reboot the continuity with a new actor, which means the No Time to Die ending likely will not be referenced at all. Fresh slate, fresh 007.

The piece also states the new film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Knight, speaking to Radio Times, said he is not writing with a specific actor in mind and clammed up on details.

"I can’t talk about it."

Pressed on whether his trademark grit from projects like Peaky Blinders will carry over, he kept it vague: we will see, and you do not really know what the movie is until you are in the writing.

Bottom line: Horowitz thinks Bond should feel immortal, even if this particular incarnation did not. The franchise, as ever, will just swap in a new face and keep moving. Whether that comes with a Villeneuve sheen and Knight’s edge is the part we will have to wait to see.