Ben Whishaw’s recent comments to Metro about Bond 26 strike exactly the right chord. His call for a “real gear shift,” something genuinely “left field” and not remotely interested in recreating Daniel Craig is precisely the creative boldness the franchise needs. The next era of Bond should feel like a reinvention, not a continuation, and obviously with Bond’s friggin’ death it kind of has to be.

There are countless directions the filmmakers could take, most of which I’ve discussed on this site previously: casting an un-rumored, relatively unknown actor; fully rebooting the character; revisiting and reimagining an earlier film; embracing a period setting; or even flirting with genre experimentation like science fiction under a visionary director like Denis Villeneuve. The speculation makes one thing clear: the sky is the limit.

For my part, a period piece would be the clearest signal that the series is ready to evolve rather than merely iterate. Setting Bond decisively in another decade (my preferred choice? the 1960s) would restore a better sense of identity to the character that modern entries sometimes sacrifice with modern plotlines.