Is Daniel Craig retiring from movies?

Craig may be retiring from playing the iconic titular character in the James Bond movies but that does not mean he is planning on stepping away from acting any time soon. In a series of interviews, Craig has confirmed that No Time To Die will be his last time appearing in any James Bond movies.

Daniel Craig has talked about retiring to Ireland. While doing press for No Time To Die, Craig remarked, “I love Ireland. I think I want to retire to Ireland if they will have me”. The actor did not say that retirement was in his immediate plans.

No Time to retire?

Despite having no more James Bond movies on his calendar, Daniel Craig still has a very busy schedule. Craig has traded one storied franchise for a hot new one. Rian Johnson’s Knives Out was the box office smash hit of 2019 that very few saw coming. The film grossed $311 million against a budget of just $40 million.

The success of Knives Out sparked a bidding war for more mystery movies from Johnson, with Netflix offering over $450 million for the rights to two sequels. Daniel Craig, who starred in the first film, will reprise his role as Benoit Blanc, a gentleman detective with a Southern drawl. Craig is reportedly making more than $100 million to star in the next two films.

Filming for Knives Out 2 began in Greece in June 2021 before wrapping in September 2021. Knives Out had an impressive ensemble cast and the sequel is following suit. Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Ethan Hawke, and Kate Hudson are among the cast. Johnson has said that the film will be a standalone mystery rather than a continuation of the first film.

Not dead yet!

Several years ago Daniel Craig signed a deal with Showtime to star in & produce a twenty episode series called Purity, based on a book by Jonathan Franzen. Production on the series has hit several snags as Craig’s Bond-related schedule had him tied up. We may still see this series in a shorter form but it has been halted for some time now.

Craig is also set to star in Todd Field’s The Creed of Violence. Craig is said to be playing an assassin named Rawbone who travels from Texas to Mexico with a young government agent in order to stop a smuggling ring. The project was supposed to begin after Craig finished working on No Time To Die, but following several delays the future is uncertain.

Time flies

No Time To Die had a difficult road to our theaters. Trainspotting & Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle was originally attached to the film in 2019. However, Boyle departed the project, allegedly following a dispute with Daniel Craig and series producer Barbara Broccoli, forcing a delay that pushed the film back to early 2020.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered movie theaters putting the movie in limbo. No Time To Die was the first major tentpole film casualty of the pandemic. MGM announced that No Time To Die’s release would be postponed until November 2020. The studio had hoped that theaters the world over would be fully operational by then. An estimated $66 million was already spent promoting the film.

In October 2020, it was announced that No Time To Die’s release date would be pushed back, this time to April 2, 2021. However, in January 2021, the release was rescheduled again to October 8, 2021.

This date seems to have finally stuck as No Time To Die premiered in London on September 28, 2021. Critics also attended a series of early screenings ahead of the movie’s release. No Time To Die currently has an 87% fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have praised Daniel Craig’s final performance as being one of his best in the series.