No Time to Die star Léa Seydoux didn’t expect Daniel Craig to return after Spectre. After many doubts about his return and delays to the film due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Craig returns for his fifth and final James Bond film releasing in theaters this Friday, October 8. Reviews for No Time to Die are praising the film for everything audiences have come to expect from Eon’s long-running franchise: exciting chases, explosions, and stunts. However, Craig’s swan song strikes more of an emotional chord than his previous outings as Bond.
Along with Craig, actors also reprising their roles from Spectre include Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q, Christoph Waltz as Blofeld, and Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny. Rami Malek joins the cast as the primary antagonist, Lyutsifer Safin, along with Ana de Armas and Lashana Lynch as agents who assist Bond in his latest mission to take down the terrorist leader. No Time to Die finds Craig’s Bond living a tranquil life of retirement with Madeleine Swann (Seydoux), another holdover from the previous film, before he is pulled back in for one final mission.
Now, in an interview with JoBlo.com, Léa Seydoux says, like many fans, that she didn’t expect Daniel Craig to return for No Time to Die. When asked about whether she thought Swann would have a multi-film arc, Seydoux admitted she didn’t since she “really thought Spectre was Daniel’s last film.” Read her entire comments below:
I thought he was done with it. We didn’t have really a party or something to celebrate and everything and I remember that Barbara Broccoli, one of the producers, she wouldn’t let him go, she was like, “No Daniel, you will come back.” I remember he was extremely tired and I thought that he was just done with it. So when they called me back five years later, which is quite some time, and they said, “Daniel is coming back. It’s a secret. Don’t tell anyone, but you’ll be also part of the adventure,” and then I was so happy, so happy to be back.
Seydoux certainly isn’t the only one who didn’t expect Craig to be back for another Bond adventure. After Spectre‘s release in 2015, he made it quite clear he was ready to step away from the role, as he was famously quoted saying he would “rather slash his wrists” than make another Bond movie. However, Craig made this comment a day after filming on Spectre wrapped and he was understandably exhausted due to an on-set knee injury which only made the production process more difficult.
It turns out all Craig needed was some time to rest and recuperate before the franchise’s longtime producers were able to coax him into returning for a fifth and final film. The return of Craig’s Bond also gives other returning characters from Spectre more time to grow and develop, such as Seydoux’s character. Madeleine Swann actually has a past with the villain Lyutsifer Safin, which will serve as a springboard for the film’s conflict and now the wait for No Time to Die is almost over.
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