The first announcement since Amazon took over the franchise.
Denis Villeneuve is directing the next Bond movie, which is both thrilling and slightly suspicious, because we rarely get nice things like this. It’s a wild get.
The man made Sicario, which felt like holding your breath for two hours and probably single-handedly altered film music (below), and Blade Runner 2049, which somehow made silence feel louder than explosions. His Dune films? Monuments to scale and restraint but still interested in the people caught inside the machinery.
He’s one of, if not my absolute favorite director working right now, and giving him the keys to Bond feels like a sign someone finally wants to steer this thing somewhere ambitious again. If this really is the start of a new era for 007, I’m all in. And if you’re curious why I think a prestige spy show is actually the better long-term format for Bond, feel free to waste your afternoon with my completely unnecessary treatise on the subject.
Catch up with a Villeneuve Viewathon:
Sicario (2015) – Streaming on Netflix
Dune: Part One (2021) – Streaming on Max
Dune: Part Two (2024) – Streaming on Netflix, Max
Arrival (2016) – Streaming on Hulu, Paramount+, MGM+ (Amazon Channel), and fuboTV
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – Rent
Enemy (2013) – Streaming for free with ads on Pluto TV, Xumo Play, and Plex
Prisoners (2013) – Streaming on Hulu (with Cinemax add-on), Cinemax Amazon Channel, and FilmBox+
Read our Bond favs in the archive: