It won the BAFTA for Best British Film, it earned five Oscar nominations (taking home two statues), and its global box office haul was $1.1 billion. It even won big at the recent Empire awards. “Skyfall” was the seventh-biggest film of all time, grossing nearly twice as much as the next highest charting Bond film (“Casino Royale“), and the 2012 Sam Mendes-directed installment was unquestionably the biggest 007 film ever. But after a few months of hemming and hawing about whether he would take on the next Bond film — with all fans nodding/mouthing “yes, yes, yes,” with feverous approval — Mendes decided to pass on the series and skip on directing what’s known as “Bond 24.”
Fans poured one out, cried, hugged, and the internet said don’t worry, here’s plenty of options for filmmakers who could convincingly replace Mendes. Fans continued to grumble nonetheless. But a glimmer of hope appears for those who like to see the glass half full.
“We will get him back,” Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said in an interview with Getty Entertainment (via ComingSoon). Though she admits, it may not happen for the follow-up to “Skyfall.” “We haven’t given up hope… Maybe not for the next one… but we will get him back again.”
“We are working on him,” fellow producer Michael G. Wilson said. “We hope that maybe he will have gotten inspired to come back.”
If that statement doesn’t make it clear that they will eventually try and get Mendes back, perhaps Mendes himself will convince you, though he does keep to the motto: never say never again. “Bond movies: they need someone working on it now,” Mendes himself said. “…I’m doing my theater projects and then I’ll work out… I’ve definitely left the door open though… I’ve never really repeated myself, done the same type of movie one after the other, so just give me a chance to think about what I actually want to say.”