After 15 years and five films, Daniel Craig bid farewell to the role of James Bond in 2021’s No Time To Die. His swan song cleverly tied all his previous Bond outings together while raising the stakes higher than ever. However, while fans hailed Craig’s performance and the movie’s sense of finality, the climactic death scene left many scratching their heads over a seeming plot hole.

What was the ending of Daniel Craig’s No Time To Die?

In No Time To Die, James Bond sacrifices himself to ensure the destruction of villain Lyutsifer Safin’s (Rami Malek) stronghold and the deadly bioweapon Safin planned to unleash. This leads to an emotional farewell between Bond and his love Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux). However, his preceding encounter with Safin muddies the waters.

After initially opening the silo so British missiles can strike Safin’s complex, Bond encounters Safin again. Safin closes the silo doors and then infects Bond with his engineered “Heracles” virus before Bond shoots him dead and reopens the doors. Bond then tries escaping, but with missiles incoming, he realizes it’s hopeless and chooses to stay and be with Madeleine in his final moments.

Did James Bond Really Need To Escape After Being Infected?

Herein lies the flaw that disappointed many fans once Safin infects Bond with the Heracles virus, his subsequent attempt to flee the island is nonsensical and pointless. He is living on borrowed time no matter what. A popular opinion expressed on forums like MI6 Community is that the pointless infected escape scene undercuts the impact of Bond’s sacrifice.

Many fans felt that by having Bond infected, shot, stabbed, and brutally battered, the filmmakers overdid it in an attempt to squeeze every last ounce of drama from Daniel Craig’s final outing. In the end, it felt artificially inflated rather than an organic, character-driven conclusion for his tenure as 007. Here are a few fan reactions:

I distinctly remember being in the theater and, after he’d been shot, stabbed, infected, and was bracing for a nuke to hit him, thinking, ‘Gee, how’s he going to get out of this one?’

— Brendan Foley (@TheTrueBrendanF) February 20, 2024

The absolute non-ambiguity of the ending makes me cackle, though. They don’t want you to walk away unsure about what you saw. It is wild how much they kill him. They could not kill him any more.

— DrewMcWeeny (@DrewMcWeeny) February 20, 2024

James Bond WILL NOT return. And honestly I think the boldest thing they could do would be let this stand. There is a rare final end for a character. I expect a reboot. But letting it be the end would own.

— Austin Shinn (@untitleduser) February 20, 2024

Ah I couldn’t take it then and still can’t. Not that Craig didn’t have the right to demand it – though he didn’t, it’s not his character to kill – but that the story didn’t warrant it. The setup for the kill was all too weak for me, because you’re not just killing anybody here.

— Mike Latham (@mikey_wireyface) February 20, 2024

Man, that ending made me sob. They played me like a violin and I just let them.

— G.W.S 🇵🇷 (@thatgenesis) February 20, 2024

Without the pointless infected escape attempt, Bond’s death holds more tragic weight as he knowingly stays to ensure the island is destroyed without interfering with missile targeting systems by trying to escape past them.

Who Will Replace Daniel Craig as the Next James Bond?

According to The Sun, producers want to cast two new Bonds in Bond 26 – one younger and one older. The top choice for the younger 007 is apparently 27-year-old Irish actor Paul Mescal. Meanwhile, the identity of the “older Bond” remains a mystery.

The concept of two Bonds is not new 1967 spoof Casino Royale featured David Niven as an aging 007 training his replacement (with little success). Early scripts for 1987’s The Living Daylights also had an older Bond recruiting and eventually passing the torch to a younger protégé.

While Mescal shows promise, the dual-Bond concept suggests producers want to keep casting options open. Filming likely won’t start until 2025, allowing more time for potential stars to emerge. Whoever lands the role will have big shoes to fill following Daniel Craig’s massively successful tenure.

Many fans feel letting Craig’s sacrifice stand without trying to resurrect 007 would be the boldest choice, as there are few franchises that give the main characters a definitive final ending. However most expect Bond to return in some form, whether a clean reboot or just recasting the role.