Daniel Craig on James Bond: 'Let's kill my character off'

James Bond star Daniel Craig said that he suggested the franchise kill his character and find a younger Bond.

During an interview with Los Angeles Times, the Knives Out actor shared two big reasons for Bond's demise in the film. "Two things, one for myself and one for the franchise," the actor says. "I was like, 'Well, you need to reset again.' So let's kill my character off and go find another Bond and go find another story. Start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30."

The second reason fell in Craig's favour, as the actor ensured he could not return to the Bond universe. "The other was so that I could move on," he says. "I don't want to go back. I suppose I should be so lucky if they were to ask me back, but the fact is I need to move on from it. The sacrifice that he makes in the movie was for love, and there's no greater sacrifice. So it seemed like a good thing to end on."

Earlier, the 54-year-old decided to leave the role after 2015's Spectre. "I finished that movie with a broken leg," the actor told EW in 2019. 

Craig undergoes arthroscopic surgery while suffering an injury in his knee amid filming a fight scene with his Spectre co-actor Dave Bautista. "I had to question myself: Was I physically capable of doing [another one], or did I want to do another one? Because that phone call to your wife saying 'I've broken my leg' is not pleasant."