No Time to Die / WMG

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Pre-release

Bond 25 Title

Shatterhand, the most commonly speculated.
- Confirmed. Shatterhand was used as a Working Title. It's No Time To Die as of release, however.

Dr. No throwbacks

The film has been confirmed to start in Jamaica. There could be some small nods to Dr. No such as the songs "Underneath the Mango Tree", "Kingston Calypso" or a blue Sunbeam Alpine car.
The film could end with Bond heading to the Le Cercle casino in England and play Baccarat. A woman in a red dress will join him, and the immortal exchange that defined the secret agent 58 years ago will play out:
Bond: I admire your courage, Miss?
Sylvia: Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mister—?
Bond: Bond. James Bond.

It will straight up be a remake of Dr. No

The Craig era is a reboot, so it could repeat stories if it wanted. Jamaica is involved, as is the disappearance of a scientist, which could be a Composite Character of Strangways and Dent (or simply Strangways' cover), not to mention Felix's known role. Bond being brought out of retirement could be a sort of inverse reference to him supposed to be getting put on a lighter case. This remake could also have the reboot continuity mirror the transition of the original novels, as it would be going from more grounded and gritty stories to a much more classic supervillain. Also, the working title of "Shatterhand", despite its original meaning, could be a reference to Dr. No's prosthetic hands. There's certainly a lot that could be done in getting to recreate the very first Bond movie, from modernizing things, doing away with Early-Installment Weirdness, capitalizing on nostalgia, and deciding on different things to be accurate to the novel on.

The "straight up" part kind of has to be jossed, considering the film is set not only in Jamaica like Dr. No was, but also in UK, Italy and Norway.
- Jossed.

Madeleine Swann will die

To make way for Bond going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, in a manner similar to Tracy Draco and Vesper Lynd.

Jossed.

The opening credits will kick in after Madeleine gets shot and dies.

Similar to Deadpool 2.

Jossed.

Madeleine Swann will not die

Maybe it's time to subvert things a little.

Small spoilers indicate that she makes it to the end of the movie, so if she's killed, it won't be until then.
- Confirmed.

Madeleine Swann and Bond will break up at some point

In order to avoid a cliché murder-Roaring Rampage of Revenge plot. There's at least one confirmed sex scene between Bond and Ana de Armas' character.

Confirmed.

Madeleine Swann will join Spectre and Bond will kill her himself

Just to get all the possibilities out there, maybe she stops being the love interest because she betrays Bond.

Jossed. Though she does appear to have, and Bond is forced to break up with her and arrange for them both to escape Spectre separately, with no knowledge of each other's location, in case she is trying to help them to kill him.

Felix Leiter will die

Since the film is on track to shake up franchise formulas.

Confirmed.

M is going to be stuck with a lot more parliamentary hearings.

The head of a discontinued branch of British Intelligence ran an unauthorised op to shut down a major multi-national intelligence program, killing his ex-boss in the process. We know that C was actually connected to the organization that was behind most of the recent terrorist attacks, but can M prove that?

Blofeld was captured and very likely interrogated regarding all of his Nine Eyes conspiracy, and he's still detained as of No Time To Die. And Q stopped the thing and can easily prove what was going to happen if it were not stopped.
Jossed.

The character played by Lashana Lynch will not replace James Bond for the rest of the series

Bond retires from MI6 at the end of Spectre, so someone else inherits the 007 code number (Lynch's character). Something will force Bond out of retirement, something will happen to Lynch's character and Bond will be reinstated at some point.

Confirmed. Bond is reinstated to save the world again, and Nomi even explicitly requests that they reissue him the 007 designation, whilst Bond and the rest of MI6 express no particular concern over who uses which number. Also, the series will undergo a Continuity Reboot.

Bond will die.

This nods to the "Bond is a codename" theory and canonically explains away The Other Darrin.

Confirmed, though there's absolutely nothing alluding to that "theory" or The Other Darrin.

Safin will kill one of the female protagonists in the story.

He may kill one of them to raise the story's stakes. The possibilities may occur:

Madeleine Swann is killed in the car chase that we see the motorcycle stunt occur in the trailer, possibly alluding to Tracy's death by drive-by-shooting.
Paloma, as the shot of her dual wielding submachine guns may be her last stand.
Nomi, possibly at the final battle.
Jossed. He fails to kill any protagonist, except that he indirectly prompts Bond to heroically sacrifice himself.

Safin is actually Blofeld after plastic surgery.

Hence, this not only provides a handy Call-Back to Diamonds Are Forever, but it also allows Daniel Craig's Bond to come face-to-face with his brother for one last time.

Jossed. Blofeld and Safin are separate individuals, although Bond does get to come face-to-face with his brother again, only for Safin's plot to kill him as a direct result.

Alternatively, Safin will be the modern equivalent of Dr. No, just as Franz Oberhauser turned out to be Blofeld.

There are tons of hints that may imply this.

We mean, a full changed name can somewhat catchy, right? Dr. Safin No?
His attire in his character poster is similar to Dr. No's, right down to the stare and long coat... with the film logo conspicuously hiding his hands.
Bond's retort about bad things happening to those "who play God" references this line from the Dr. No book.
"Our prisons are full of people who think they're Napoleon... or God."
In this shot from the trailer◊, one can notice a bullet hole located at the left of Safin's jacket. That should be where the heart is, yet he is standing and steadying his gun. Why? Well, the original Dr. No book revealed that when Dr. No was young, he ended up being targeted for murder by the Tong for embezzling gold bars worth a total of 1 million dollars. His amputation of his hands was followed by a gunshot to where they thought Dr. No's heart was, something he survived because of his dextrocardia, where he was born with his heart in the right side of his chest.
The Super Bowl TV spot also has this shot◊. The window looks very similar to the room where◊ Professor Dent received the tarantula to kill Bond, 58 years ago.
Safin's white mask is one usually used in Japanese Noh theater.
- Jossed. The director, aka Word of God just declared in an interview that Safin is NOT Dr. No.
  - Not necessarily. We were told quite pointedly, after all, that Christoph Waltz was not Blofeld before Spectre released... And then he was. The director could simply be maintaining a poker face until the film's released.
Probably not, as it never seems to be hinted at. He's apparently a wholecloth new villain.

Nomi will die.

The title is supposed to be "No: time to die" - which is how James Bond will get his 00 number back.

Jossed. After seeing Bond in action, Nomi simply demands that he be given his number back, as acknowledgement of the legendary agent.

Safin has a personal connection to Madeleine Swann

In the trailer Madeleine opens a box to reveal Safin's mask. She has tears in her eyes and is terrified. Then there's a change to a different scene of an incarcerated Blofeld saying, "When her secret finds its way out, it'll be the death of you".

Bond having trust issues with a woman completely makes sense given what happened in his past with Vesper, and everything suggests his relationship with Madeleine is initially strained due to a lack of trust/secrets being kept. Again, we see this in the trailer. Ultimately, I think it's fair to say that the secret Madeleine kept from Bond is related to Safin.

Now, Madeleine is the daughter of a Spectre agent, Mr. White. But what if Mr. White also had a son? A son thought to be dead? And maybe Madeleine played a role in his death, since she did shoot someone who tried to kill her father. But now he's some somehow back, alive, and that's why she's so scared. It doesn't even have to be a biological son, just a SPECTRE agent that Mr. White knew really well or viewed as a son. She never told Bond about him because she thought he was dead. This would also line up with the plot being about a genetics/cloning scheme, playing god and immortality. It would also explain why Madeleine gets brought in by MI6, reuniting her with Bond. She has information related to Safin, his plans, and supposed death years ago. Blofeld would also have vital information, as Safin and Mr. White were involved with SPECTRE. Maybe Safin still is. Lastly, it creates a nice parallel with the relationship between Bond & Blofeld, and the relationship between Madeleine & Safin.

In the end, Bond would defeat Safin and reform his relationship with Madeleine. Bond's tragedy, especially in this Daniel Craig version, is what happened to him with Vesper. And this would heal that old scar.

Confirmed, though not in that way.

Bond will break up with Madeleine over her secret-keeping after the car chase in Italy, and he will attempt to live a secluded life in Jamaica.

This won't last, though.

Confirmed.

Blofeld will break out of prison.

If Raoul Silva could do that all with his technology and some sheer luck, then surely the guy who hired him can do the same.

Alternatively, Bond will have to break him out of prison in order to get his assistance in tracking Safin.
Semi-confirmed... sort of. He never actually leaves prison, but instead it is revealed that he has continued to run Spectre entirely unimpeded from his cell, even manipulating Bond's life to the point of making him abandon his new love and then arranging for her to be his own new therapist.

Bond won't break Q's technology and actually bring it back intact.

He seems to lose at least one of Q's gadgets every single time, so not doing that would be an absolute surprise.

Confirmed. He returns all of Q's equipment mostly intact except when he himself doesn't make it back at all, and his gadget watch gets presumably destroyed with himself.

There will be a flashback showing a young Madeleine shooting her first person.

Set photos have showed a young girl being chased in Norway by a white-masked person, whose mask is later cracked. This could tie in with Spectre, as Madeleine admitted that she stopped someone who tried to kill her father.

This is very possible, as Word of God is that the opening sequence will feature Safin trying to kill Madeline as a child.
Confirmed.

Safin is dabbling in cloning because he is suffering from a genetic condition.

Without his mask, Safin seems to have slightly Tainted Veins, which become more pronounced when he wears it. He could be finding a way to cheat death by making new clones of himself, without any weaknesses.

Jossed.

The final battle could involve Bond fighting multiple Safin clones.

It would be a deliciously hilarious in-joke towards the fact that Bond was recast 5 times across 57 years.

Jossed.

Blofeld and Safin could either form a Big Bad Duumvirate, or have their own individual agendas.

Or it could start out as a Big Bad Duumvirate, only to turn into competing Evil Plans.

Confirmed. Safin was once the son of an entire family of loyal Spectre agents, growing poisons on an island, before Madeleine's father killed them all, except for Safin. After that, which is admittedly long before the film's main plot, Safin and Blofeld (well, all of Spectre, really) are competing villains.

As this is widely speculated to be Daniel Craig's last outing as Bond, all unresolved plot threads in previous Craig Bond films will be addressed.

For example, that thing about the hard drive containing info about every NATO agent in Skyfall.

Jossed.

Nomi gets that other James Bond theme.

The old one that's fallen out of use and is unofficially titled as the not James Bond but "007" Theme.

Jossed.

The film's a lead in for a female 007 of which will pass the torch.

Considering that the trailer stated there's a female agent who has taken the codename and the tread of things in Hollywood at the current (See Charlie's Angels (2019)) it's not out of the realm of possibility.

Barbara Broccoli repeatedly said there will never be James Bond spinoffs and is adamant about Bond being a man, so it is unlikely that this was intended, but Comfirmed that there was indeed a 007 in this film who was a black woman.

Nomi is a Red Herring and will not last as the new 007, as a way of showing that Bond is irreplaceable.

Maybe she's secretly working for the villains, maybe her dismissive treatment of Bond is just a sign of her arrogance, but either way, she's not going to replace him as 007 going forward. The actor playing him will change, but James Bond will live to fight another day.

Confirmed, Nomi herself is not a Red Herring. She explicitly requests that Bond be given back the 007 designation, despite his own apathy about the number.

The opening gun-barrel scene will feature someone other than Bond

Either a young Madeleine or a young Blofeld.

If Blofeld, it will be a brief scene that shows him acting as a SPECTRE field agent in a dark mirror of a typical Bond mission.
Jossed, it's good old James Bond/007. Though it does shake things up by not featuring the blood trailing down the screen afterwards. Possibly as a foreshadowing of Bond's own death.

Both MI6 and the remnants of Spectre want Safin dead/captured for their own reasons

And the film will partially be a race between the two of them to see who can get ahold of him first.

Confirmed, Spectre attempted to kill Safin years ago. Safin managed to escape and much later plotted to destroy much of the leadership of Spectre with a programmable nanobot infection (and succeeded).

The film will involve brain uploading, A.I., Agent 47-style clones, or some other sci-fi element

Safin's line that Bond's skills will "die with his body" while Safin's skills will live on even after his death, and Bond's line about "men who play God", both seem to suggest something like this. The title "No Time to Die" also would fit for some sort of sci-fi means to cheat death.

Confirmed. The sci-fi element is a new kind of nanobot, designed to be a lethal infection killing in seconds, targeting certain people's DNA. Safin's claim that Bond's skill at killing dies with him, while Safin's will live on past himself refers to his belief that Bond is "just" an amazing assassin, while he is responsible for spreading this new super-weapon to the world.

The opening credits will kick in after Bond and Madeleine part ways on a train.

It's basically the perfect entry, what with the theme song discussing betrayal and love.

Confirmed.

The note saying "Forgive me", which Bond is seen burning, was from Vesper Lynd.

This may be an attempt for Bond to move on from his past, which would provide a nice contrast to how Madeleine is struggling with a dark secret.

That's Vesper's tomb Bond is seen visiting

She died in Italy and may have been buried there.

Confirmed, though she's been buried quite far from Venice.

Despite the hype, Paloma will only be a One-Scene Wonder.

Every shot of her from promotional material is in the same dress, so she won't have much screentime. Just like Lucia Sciarra from Spectre.

Confirmed.

Safin's "This was your choice" quote, heard at the end of the Super Bowl TV spot, is his last words.

The delivery is more of a pained whisper, so this may occur after Bond delivers the killing blow.

Confirmed.

The romantic scenes between Bond and Madeleine are actually flashbacks following the end of their relationship

Notice how in nearly every scene he's wearing the same suit? And that her hair is visibly shorter in the Italy scenes (like her style in Spectre) than in the MI6 office scenes when they meet again, indicating that considerable time has passed?

Jossed, it is in the opening sequence. Though they do *then* break up.

The release date will be pushed up from the planned November slot.

Initially confirmed, as the release date was moved up to five days earlier—November 20—than what it was shifted to when the pandemic escalated, but now jossed, as it has been pushed back yet again til April 2021. . . and again to October 2021.

Bond and Madeleine have a child

Tiny spoilers have leaked that indicated that a little girl named Mathilde will play a role. Could she be Bond and Madeline's daughter? We don't know what time frame the movie will cover, but Word of God states that it picks up five years after the events of Spectre and the child is roughly the age to have been conceived and born in that interim, so it's possible that Madeline's unknowingly pregnant if/when she and Bond break up. Perhaps she's being forced to aid Safin in order to protect her—a recent trailer appears to show him telling her "I'm willing to kill the person you love the most". He could be referring to either of them.

Confirmed. Or, at least, several characters assume this to be true. Madeleine herself claims it isn't but then seems to admit that it is.

Safin is another Shadow Archetype of Bond.

Just as Blofeld, Silva, Trevelyan, Scaramanga, and Max Zorin represent his worst aspects, Safin could be another Evil Counterpart. Safin claims that both "eradicate people to make the world a better place," but that he wants to "make it tidier."

Safin could be a Bond devolved into a Knight Templar Well-Intentioned Extremist with genuinely good goals, but the methods used are questionable at best and Omnicidal Maniac at worst.
- Like Silva, Safin could also be a failed 00-agent, having failed the requisite tests needed to become one. Because of this, he turned to terrorism as a way to seek revenge against those who wronged him.
Confirmed on being a Shadow Archetype; Safin is what could be if Bond lets his past consume and control him, owing to the fact that they both lost their families (something Bond himself even notes while talking to Safin); in fact, Blofeld was responsible for the deaths of both Hannes Oberhauser (directly) and Safin's family (through Mr. White). Instead of "failed 00 agent" however, being related to MI6, his backstory hinges on his whole family working for Spectre until they were all killed by Madeleine's father. He started the plot for his revenge at the loss of his family.

James Bond will die. He will not be replaced. This will be the final James Bond film.

There have been rumours about the actor who will succeed Daniel Craig for years now, with tons of names floating about, but the studio has remained completely silent on the matter. Maybe that's because they don't actually intend to have a successor to Daniel Craig, and they secretly intend for this to be the final Bond film. But they can't actually announce that because then people would know already that Bond likely dies at the end. It will be an enormous twist. While this seems unlikely due to the popularity of the franchise and its ability to consistently make money, perhaps Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have decided unilaterally to end the franchise as an artistic move similar to Benioff and Weiss deciding unilaterally to end Game of Thrones.

I wouldn't call D&D's decision to end GoT an "artistic move." They rushed the ending so they could move onto Star Wars (the delicious irony being that they got fired.)
- Plus, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is being eyed to write the next film and both producers have discussed bringing the director of this film back for a future film, indicating that the franchise has some kind of future.
Jossed. James Bond apparently dies but the film still features the now iconic line "James Bond Will Return", and a new actor will be cast in the role.

The film's Central Theme

It could be the lack of difference in the method used by the Designated Hero and the Card-Carrying Villain. Given Safin's assertions about him and 007 "eradicating people to make the world a better place," Leiter stating how it's becoming harder to tell who's good vs. who's bad, and Bond questioning his own morality at times, this could end up becoming the main underlying theme.

Confirmed. Even the new M is noted as running off the books bioweapon labs.

This will be the darkest Bond film to date

Jossed, despite Bond's death? This is entirely subjective, of course, but Bond goes on a mission to stop a mad killer with a new super-weapon. Less dark than Dalton's Bond going rogue or Brosnan's Bond being tortured in an enemy prison.

The movie will be delayed AGAIN

At the rate things are going, the producers could decide (or may have to) to postpone it again so that it can be released for the franchise's 60th anniversary in 2022. Much like Die Another Day (in which the 20th film marked the 40th anniversary), 2 milestones could be celebrated simultaneously, as the film is the 25th in the series.

Confirmed. Although it hasn't been delayed as late as 2022, it's been pushed back yet again to October 8, 2021.

The theme song is a jinx

Think about it. It's released. . .and the movie is postponed from April 2020 until November 2020. The video is released. . .and the movie is postponed from November 2020 until April 2021. Next thing you know, they'll release the soundtrack and it will be postponed again.

Well, the film came out alongside pre-orders for the soundtrack, so clearly putting the film ahead of the music worked to avoid a fourth postponement.
- Jossed, the movie was finally released in the UK on September 30 and in the US on October 8, one day before and one week after, respectively, the soundtrack was released on October 1.

Alternately, this movie will be dumped to Apple TV+

To compete with Mulan (2020) and Soul.

Jossed. The film was released exclusively in theatres in September/October 2021 and on PVOD one month later.

The ending will take a The Dark Knight Rises approach.

Bond will defeat Safin and be presumed dead, when in reality, he is actually planning to live out the rest of his life with Madeleine. It can be a reversal of his state in Casino Royale: emotionally bitter by the betrayal of his deceased lover. Here, he may be finally at peace, not just with Madeleine's secrets, but also with himself.

Jossed. Bond does defeat Safin, but his death is seemingly not faked.

The credits will include a dedication to Sean Connery

This will be the first James Bond movie released after his death.

And it will include a dedication to Roger Moore as well, as he's passed away too.
- Jossed.

David Bateson and/or Jane Perry will make a cameo

With IO Interactive making a new Bond game, a good way to cement their new connection will be having the leads of Hitman appear.

Jossed, neither appear.

Madeleine is Blofeld's daughter, not Mr. White's

According to the CinemaCon clip, one of the assassins trying to kill Bond and Madeleine in Italy refers to her as "a daughter of S.P.E.C.T.R.E". Later, Bond overhears a phone call in which Madeleine is told, "Your father would be proud". Mr. White left the organization when it became too evil even for him, so he certainly would NOT be proud of his daughter aiding it. Its leader on the other hand would be.

Jossed. In fact, the narrative of the film doesn't even allow for the possibility since if Madeleine was Blofeld's daughter, then she would have died as soon as she came into contact with the nanobots Safin gave her, that would be lethal to Blofeld and to anyone related to him.

There will be a Oner at some point during the film.

Confirmed. There's a staircase fight during the climax that at least does look like it's all in one shot.

Post-release Theories

Bond could have escaped and been with his family if he would have tried.

The EMP watch could have fried the nanobots in his blood (it was untested, after all!), thus making him safe to be around.

Primo was working for Safin the entire time.

With all the information Safin had on the Spectre meeting in Cuba, it's unlikely he got all the intel from Logan Ash. He knew every agent of Spectre would be there, he knew the agents thought they needed Obruchev, he knew what their plan was, he even knew what type of flash drive they were going to use to program Heracles. Logan Ash was just a CIA rookie, meaning it's unlikely he would have access to all that information. Not only was Primo not affected by Heracles in spite of being a Spectre agent, but the film also establishes he met with Logan Ash at some point after the party. Primo could very well have been working with Safin the entire time, which would explain why he wasn't too hurt over Safin killing all his fellow agents (amongst other things).

The "nanomachines" are a last minute replacement for a biochemical virus

Much fuss has been made about the idea of nanomachines spreading by touch and being impossible to remove, given either idea comes with large headings of Fridge Logic. However, we know parts of the film were reshoot due to outdated product placement, perhaps they also used the time to reshoot/redub some scenes to downplay the unintentional parallels to COVID-19.

Sequel Theories

The new Bond will be played by:

Nomi will be the protagonist in the next film.

Alternatively, she may serve as a mentor to the next, younger iteration of Bond.

Jossed right away, Bond will still be the protagonist.

The next movie will take place in the original continuity (AKA after Die Another Day).

If so, it would have to be a Broad Strokes take on the original continuity (which the original continuity was anyway, since even in the Brosnan era, Bond was a veteran of the Cold War - something that would be impossible for any future iteration of Bond.
So did all Daniel Craig's Bond films.

Mathilde's stuffed animal is going to be a Chekhov's Gun in the next movie

Considering how many fans are already invoking He's Just Hiding, as cited on the YMMV page, it's not hard to imagine Madeleine or Mathilde finding it and realizing that Bond somehow survived and is only staying away so that he can protect them.

So will the "smart blood"

Q turned around after the missile strike to see see the screen reading "offline". It's easy to picture him randomly working in his lab, hearing a beeping noise. . .and looking up to see that's it's now reading "online"and possibly revealing Bond's whereabouts.

Bond was knocked unconscious in the opening sequence and the whole movie was a dream that he had while in a coma

Since TPTB are surely already trying to figure out how to bring him back for the next film. Throw in some Magic Plastic Surgery and you have a perfect explanation for why he looks completely different. The director actually pitched this idea for the movie (see the "What Could Have Been" page), so it's not implausible at all.

The bot/virus spreads, mutates and results in a zombie apocalypse. In a film to come.

As collateral effect, Bond is reconstructed by the nanobots, since at this point he has a) the virus, ahem, bots that killed the Spectre, but Blofeld; b) the version aimed to Blofeld; c) the version aimed to Madeleine. (Note: b) was a unnecessary plus, a) was sufficient).
And the bots become the T-Viruses of Resident Evil.
Blofeld and the Spectre are resurrected... as evil brain-eater power hungry zombies (they had the lethal versions).
The next film will be: "James Bond: Zombie Hunter".
Alternatively, the nanobots combine with the flu virus like in Rick and Morty S1 E6 Rick Potion #9, with similar results. The next film will be: "007: Jam Bond".
These films will be produced by The Asylum, with the usual change of names.

The next Bond will be a Legacy Character.

Given that No Time to Die ends with Bond dying; if the next film will follow the continuity established in Casino Royale, there will be another 007 agent who will carry on his name, will, and legacy. After all, everyone in-universe should know of Bond's undeniable status as a hero.
- Being universally famous is the worst thing that could happen to a spy. And if somebody starts calling himself "James Bond" after the hero who got killed in service to mankind, he would be reviled, as "You're up not to his legacy!"
  - For Bond's kind of spy, yes, though a story about Bond as a head of station- whose identity needs to be known, not secret, to be of any use- would have been interesting, etc.
And it will retroactively reveal that Daniel Craig's Bond was, in fact, also just another in the line of Bonds from Sean Connery (whose name it actually was) all the way to Brosnan, Craig, and whoever succeeds Craig, with every new 007 taking the name Bond, except for Nomi who, unbeknownst to her, was going to be reassigned to a different double-oh position as soon as they found a new "James Bond". That's why nobody except her paid any attention to the fact that she was 007 for now. Everybody who heard that she wasn't calling herself "James Bond" immediately understood that her role as 007 was temporary.

Paloma will act as the Felix Leiter counterpart to the next James Bond.

Why limit the awesome to only one scene in one movie?

Once we get a new Bond, Nomi will be assigned to the 006 number...

...and be a redeeming replacement for Alec Trevelyan.

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