Daniel Craig is the bookend Bond, giving 007's story a beginning — and an end

James Bond Will Return, as a title card at the end of each of the 25 EON Productions Bond films released since the Kennedy Administration has promised. Daniel Craig will not.

The new — well, newish — is an extended (163 minute!) victory lap for Craig's five-film tenure as 007. That's two fewer than the seven each that and got (though Connery's 7th was in an "unofficial" entry. Long story.). But because of Craig's public reticence followed by production stalls followed by a series of pandemic-necessitated release delays, his 15-year stretch in the role is the longest any actor has held it uninterrupted. But what's more notable is that it marks the first time in this character's six-decade screen history that an actor has been given the chance to show us the beginning,