Daniel Craig's Bond fate was decided back in 2006

Daniel Craig previously revealed that he and James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli decided on 007's fate as long ago as 2006.

After Pierce Brosnan confirmed his retirement from the role after Die Another Day, the casting rumour mill naturally went into overdrive, as Bond producers searched for their next Bond who would star in the Casino Royale reboot.

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Craig would land the role and lead the most commercially successful period in the franchise's history before retiring as 007 in 2021's No Time to Die.

In that movie, audiences saw something they had never seen before - James Bond actually died.

And, Craig says that was his idea after Casino Royale became a hit.

“I was driving away from the Berlin premiere of Casino Royale with Barbara Broccoli,” he told The Sunday Times.

"I had genuinely thought I would do one Bond movie, then it would be over. But by then we knew we had a hit on our hands. I realized the enormity of it, so I said to Barbara, ‘How many more? Three? Four?’ She said, ‘Four!’ I said, ‘OK. Then can I kill him off?’ She said, ‘Yes.’”

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No Time to Die (2021)

In 'No Time to Die' James Bond has left his turbulent life as a secret agent behind and is living a quiet life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived, however, when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA shows up asking for help. It leads him on the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek and Léa Seydoux

Bond's death in No Time to Die

At the conclusion of No Time to Die, Bond is killed by a shower of missiles, ultimately sacrificing himself to prevent harm coming to the mother of his child, and the child.

"Real tragedy is when you have absolutely no choice,” he explained.

“We had to find a way to make his death no choice. It was the happiest Bond had ever been because he’d found exactly what he was looking for. Like everyone on Earth, he was just looking for love.”

Craig revealed that the studio, MGM, were firmly against the idea of killing James Bond off, so the movie's creators had to work in secret.

"If we kill Bond, we can begin again,” Craig said

“I think Barbara thought that too. But, bless them, the studio, MGM, were, like, ‘What are you talking about? Are you out of your minds?’ There was reluctance. So we had to do it in secret, really.”