After 15 years and five films as James Bond, Daniel Craig decided it was time to call it quits after 2021’s No Time To Die. The career change not only lets him move on to other projects but also allows the Bond series to cast a new (mystery) actor in the famous role, giving the film new vitality.

“Two things,” Craig explains in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “One for me and one for the franchise.” “One was that resets restarted, which [the franchise] did with me. ‘Well, you need to reset again,’ I said. So let’s kill off my persona and find another Bond and another tale. Begin at [age] 23, then 25, then 30.”

“The other was so I could move on,” Craig says. I don’t want to return. I suppose I should be grateful if they asked me again, but the truth is that I need to move on. In the film, he makes a sacrifice for love, and there is no greater sacrifice. So that felt like a decent way to conclude… As an actor, I consider myself really lucky to have reached a point in my career where I can say, ‘You know what? “I’m going to choose and chose.”

Right after leaving one franchise, Craig signed up for another with Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, however he seemed to be much pleased with this one. Craig reprises his role as investigator Benoit Blanc in the sequel Glass Onion, and he is now working on a third episode of the saga for Netflix.

Craig admits that one of his regrets while working on the Bond films was the constant talk about his on-set injuries and the role’s overall physicality over the films’ artistic qualities. While he may be on to a new franchise, will his previous character be wiped out?

What do you think of this possibility? Sound off in the comments.