Modern Bond filmmaking has fallen into a pattern of overthinking itself. While Daniel Craig’s era rightly reset the franchise after Brosnan’s excesses, that caution has now turned into creative paralysis that has turned off die-hard fans and lost potential new ones. With the reboot concept already proven, the idea of a younger Bond shouldn’t be treated as a radical concept that takes ages to create.

Handing Bond 26 to a busy prestigious director like Denis Villeneuve sounds impressive on paper, but will also give fans a grossly unfortunate record-breaking gap between movies and has greatly contributed to a sense of lack of urgency that has plagued modern Bond moviemaking. There’s obviously no shortage of elite filmmakers who would eagerly take on Bond and deliver sooner. So why not hand the first iteration post-Craig to someone ready to chomp at the bit right away and give Villeneuve his surely epic Bond 27 afterwards?

Unfortunately, the franchise risks letting perfection get in the way of the good, with no guarantees for either path except disgruntled diehard fans like myself.