Dunkirk’s Christopher Nolan has finally gone on record to withdraw himself from the race to take the helm on Bond 25, the next instalment in the franchise which could potentially be Daniel Craig’s last as 007.

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The next Bond adventure has yet to name its director with Blade Runner 2049’s Denis Villeneuve and ’71 helmer Yann Demange still being rumoured as possible replacements for Sam Mendes.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4, Nolan, however, did profuse his admiration for the franchise and hinting that someday he could be involved.

I’d love to make a Bond film at some point and I think those producers – Barbara and Michael – they do a tremendous job and Sam Mendes has done a terrific job the last couple of films, so they don’t particularly need me. But I’ve always been inspired by the films and would love to do one someday.

I love the character, I love the films, I’ve been very inspired by the films as anyone who’s seen my films will find embarrassingly obvious. But you’d only take on a franchise like that if you could bring something completely new to it if that were needed. And I think at the moment they’re doing fantastically well without me.”

With Craig now onboard for Bond 25 and a November 2019 release date set, time is ticking to find the right director to get the filming started sooner rather than later.

We spoke with producer Barbara Broccoli, daughter of former Bond producer Albert Broccoli, at this last year’s TIFF about Bond 25, unfortunately, she didn’t give anything away but did air her excitement that Craig would be back.

“We’ve had such incredible people making the films with us, such incredible actors and I’m just so happy that Daniel is back – it’s been a dream come true to get him back.”

Watch the whole video interview below