According to the producers of the James Bond franchise the series will never spawn a TV series, but this means 007 will struggle to remain relevant.

The producers of the James Bond franchise have vetoed the option of bringing the 007 universe to the small screen after No Time To Die ends Daniel Craig’s time in the role, but they are wrong to turn down the option entirely. Since his big-screen debut in 1962’s Dr. No, James Bond has starred in twenty-five cinematic adventures and been played by seven actors. The suave super-spy was played by Daniel Craig, who is set to be replaced in the role now that No Time To Die has released.

However, replacing the actor playing 007 does not mean that the series creators will be changing their approach to the series wholesale. According to a recent interview with TotalFilm (via Games Radar), the franchise producers claimed they would never make a James Bond television show. This could be a dismaying announcement for some fans hoping to see James Bond extended universe spin-offs. However, the news is also not necessarily the right call for the franchise, as 007 struggles to maintain relevance in a competitive cinematic marketplace.

According to the 007 franchise’s producers, the idea of a TV spin-off for the James Bond series is a firm no-go. In the interview, producer Barbara Broccoli stated « we make films for the cinema. That’s what we do, » vetoing any chance of a small-screen outing for 007. Meanwhile, fellow franchise producer Michael G Wilson noted that the siren call of a potentially lucrative TV spin-off was nothing new, saying « we’ve resisted that call for 60 years.” However, what neither producer appears to realize is that the landscape of media is changing and most major franchises have small-screen elements now, allowing the creators to deepen their lore (and fill their pockets). Craig’s era as James Bond established compelling continuity and franchise canon that a small screen spinoff could capitalize on, meaning the producers are wrong in their call and their reticence illustrates an underlying issue with the franchise.

Bond Needs To Move With The Times

As a character, James Bond has often been accused of being behind the times, with one self-referential joke from a ‘90s outing of the franchise even referring to the character as a “misogynist dinosaur” and “relic of the Cold War.” As is the case with most characters whose stories balance elements of real-world espionage with pure escapism, James Bond has been at his best in recent years when he has moved with the times in terms of tone and avoided lapsing in nostalgic recreations of 007’s ’60s-era glory days. The character of Bond can be made exciting again when updated for modern times, as seen in 2006’s dark, edgy Casino Royale. The medium that the 007 series takes place needs to change with the times too, as the series did when Ian Fleming’s popular novels were first adapted to film.

Attempting to keep the James Bond franchise the same as it has been since the ‘60s is bound to fail, something 007 can not afford after years out of the cinema. With six years between Spectre and No Time To Die, the Bond franchise risked losing the attention of the paying public as an increasing number of massive series cut into the spy’s audience share. The 007 franchise has already made it clear that the creators can adapt to audience demand when necessary, as proven by screenwriter Roald Dahl taking the dark, dour original novel You Only Live Twice and turning it into a goofy, over-the-top live-action cartoon complete with killer piranha pits and hidden bases inside inactive volcanoes. If the series was able to make the tonal leap from self-serious novels to sillier, more light-hearted blockbusters, there are no reason to believe that the creators can not pull off the same transformation by bringing Bond — or at least elements of the franchise — to the small screen.

Bond Needs Spin-offs To Survive

In the interview, the producers vetoed a “teen Bond” TV show, but the franchise will need to eventually branch out into TV in one form or another to survive in the current cultural climate. Many of the biggest franchises are all acclimating to spitting their time between the big and small screen or dying. However, a teen Bond series may not be the way to go as, even without the reluctance of the producers, it would face stiff competition from the existing Stormbreaker series and the Kingsman movies. However, spin-offs that focus on the supporting cast of the franchise would allow the series to keep Bond himself on the big screen, thus ensuring that the creators did not compromise 007’s mystique, while also fleshing out the backstories of countless figures fans have always wanted to know more about.

A Bond TV Show Could Explore Countless Avenues

Whether it is a backstory for Bond, the adventures of other 00 agents, the story of how SPECTRE came to be, a period piece about M’s rise in MI6, or any number of other options, there is a slew of stories the 007 franchise can tell. Many potential James Bond spin-offs, like a series detailing the rise of his shadowy nemesis Blofeld, do not even require the presence of Bond himself, ensuring that the release of a new 007 movie would still be an event while interest in the franchise would be kept alive in between cinematic outings. Keeping James Bond himself off the small screen is a fair goal for the franchise producers, but this approach does not preclude the possibility of other spin-off series on the small screen.

To keep 007’s cinematic releases a big deal while also offering eager fans more reason to care about the aging series, the producers of James Bond will need to work with the existing media landscape and find a way to bring the spy’s world to television and streaming services. No Time To Die director Cary Fukunaga’s work on True Detective proved that television could be as dynamic and inventive as anything from the Craig era of the James Bond franchise, and sticking to a formula that has become outdated in recent years will do the series no favors in the future. James Bond will struggle to survive after No Time To Die, and his creators need to adapt to the small screen to keep the super spy’s fortunes afloat.

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