Four months after Amazon MGM Studios announced that it had gained control over the James Bond franchise, the movie studio said on Wednesday that Denis Villeneuve, the director behind the current “Dune” series, will direct the next Bond film.
“Some of my earliest moviegoing memories are connected to 007,” Villeneuve said in statement. “I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since ‘Dr. No’ with Sean Connery.”
Villeneuve, who also directed the action thriller “Blade Runner 2049,” admitted that the fictional superspy who has spawned 25 movies and earned billions of dollars at the box office was “sacred territory.”
“I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come,” he said. “This is a massive responsibility, but also incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor.”
The next Bond film, for which no lead actor has been announced, will be executive produced by Tanya Lapointe. Amy Pascal and David Heyman will serve as producers.
The announcement may not be a total surprise. Villeneuve said in an interview with The Playlist in 2017 that he had conversations about directing a Bond film but the timing was an issue.
Villeneuve, who is from Quebec, has emerged as one of Hollywood’s leading directors, particularly with the critical and commercial success of the “Dune” series. “Dune: Part One,” released in 2021, earned six Academy Awards and Villeneuve was nominated for best adapted screenplay. Last year’s “Dune: Part Two,” which returned stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, won two Oscars and more than $700 million in worldwide box-office sales. The third installment in the series, also directed by Villeneuve, is set to be released in December 2026.
Amazon’s director announcement marks an incremental, but crucial step to getting Bond back onscreen. “No Time to Die,” the last Bond film, was released in 2021. It marked the end of a five-film series with Daniel Craig in the lead role.
In February, it was announced that the family that had cautiously steered the Bond franchise for more than 60 years had agreed to relinquish control to Amazon. And this spring, the studio announced that a new video game featuring Bond, 007 First Light, would be released next year.
The deal came after a standoff between Barbara Broccoli, who inherited control of Bond from her father, and Amazon, which gained a significant ownership stake in the franchise in 2021 as part of its $8.5 billion purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Before the deal, Broccoli and her brother, Michael G. Wilson, another Bond producer, had held a tight grip over creative control, including when new films would be made and other important casting decisions.
Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.
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