Deadline has a new interview with producer Amy Pascal, who, alongside producing the new Spider-Man movie, is also steering Bond 26 into production. Most notably, when asked when we might finally learn who will portray James Bond next, Pascal offered the tantalizing response, “I would say the end of the year is a good bet.”

That would be excellent news for Bond fans desperate for something more substantial than rumors and increasingly creative casting speculation, while also lining up neatly with filming potentially stretching throughout 2027 and perhaps into early 2028 for a late 2028 release.

Bear with me now: this prolonged back-and-forth between fans, filmmakers and the rumor mill reminds me of For Your Eyes Only‘s identograph process, where Bond’s facial profile composite of Emile Locque gradually becomes clearer as more information is fed into the machine. Hopefully we are finally past the “nose, not a banana, Q” stage and are getting closer to those increasingly recognizable “octagonal” frames that ultimately reveal the identity of the man behind the next 007.

Alright, I get it, comparing Bond 26‘s casting process to the identograph may be a stretch, but when the wait is this long, I’ve to find creative ways to pass the time or I’ll go nuts. And if Pascal’s “good bet” proves accurate, we may finally have the most important piece of the Bond 26 puzzle before the year is out.