At this point, I’m reluctantly prepared to extend Amazon and its partners the benefit of the doubt as we endure what is shaping up to be the longest gap between Bond movie in the franchise’s history.  The transition to Amazon’s stewardship and the corresponding dilution of the traditional creative control once held by Wilson and Broccoli may indeed be a watershed moment.  But after Bond 26 finally arrives, the release cadence simply has to change.

A single Bond film per decade is untenable and undermines Bond’s cultural relevance and limits its ability to have any meaningful momentum.  The world is evolving too quickly for Bond to spend years in development limbo.  Realistically, Bond 27 should follow no more than three years after Bond 26, and ideally the franchise should move toward a more consistent, forward-looking schedule.  Anything less risks turning Bond from a global cinematic institution into an occasional novelty, and the character and the audience deserve better.