The ending to the newly released Spectre breeds speculation over the future of James Bond and possible directions that the next film might go in.
Caution: Spoilers for multiple Bond films, including Spectre, ahead.
In the final scene of Spectre, the new James Bond film from Eon Productions, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is seen driving off in his stolen Aston Martin DB10 with Bond girl Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux). Seemingly, they drive off to a happy existence together, where Bond no longer has to worry about his license to kill or global terrorist organizations hell-bent on world destruction plots. They can buy a house, open up a quaint bed and breakfast, and raise a couple of little Bonds with blue eyes and ice cold blood.
Or can they?
Clearly, as the ending credits of Eon’s films state, James Bond will always return in the next adventure. Without him, the franchise would stop making billions of dollars in international ticket sales.
So, what’s with the happy ending of Spectre?
The easiest way to predict the future and guess at what the next James Bond film will hold is to look into the past. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the only Bond film to star George Lazenby in the franchise role, depicts a similarly happy ending. At least, for a time. Bond falls in love with Tracy (Diana Rigg), and they marry. It is a wondrous occasion depicting MI6 staples such as M and Q saying their joyous goodbyes to Bond as he drives off to the next chapter of his life, a chapter marked by a lack of dangerous espionage.
Only, during that drive away from Bond’s past, a car carrying criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) and his henchwoman Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) speed by and gun down poor Tracy. The film ends with Bond crying as he holds his dead wife.
Dark stuff, right? Perfect for a moody, Daniel Craig Bond film, if you ask me.
Here’s my prediction: the opening of the next Bond film will depict a similar fate to Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Heck, it could be a shot-for-shot remake of the scene, considering Blofeld survives at the end of Spectre (because he has to, continuity-wise).
No matter how it happens, Doctor Swann simply has to die for the James Bond formula to continue as usual. Sorry, Lea Seydoux. You did a wonderful job in Spectre, but your time is just about up.
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What do you think? How do you want the next Bond film to open? What did you think of Spectre? Let us know in the comments below!