James Bond: 10 Potential Spin-Offs And How They Would Work
There's more to Bond than foggy old London.
James Bond is in a bit of a difficult place right now. After Martin Campbell's Casino Royale launched the series to dizzying new heights of quality, it was followed up by the lacklustre Quantum Of Solace. Then came Skyfall, a brilliant blend of old and new, but 2015's Spectre was middling and lacked focus.
At this point the series' is struggling to find an identity, and with the likelihood that Daniel Craig has exited the franchise, the future is even more uncertain. But with uncertainty comes a level of opportunity. Perhaps what the Bond franchise needs right now is to explore the depths of its world and characters.
After twenty-six films, perhaps it's time to switch focus. That's not to say radically alter the main series, but why can't Bond have spin-offs? Spin-offs would be a fantastic opportunity to test the waters and seek out new possibility.
From science-fiction to an amazing spy duo, here are 10 potential James Bond spin-offs and how they would work.
10. Young Bond
In recent years the popularity of “young adult” movie franchises has sky-rocketed. It started with Harry Potter and continued to be boosted by the likes of Twilight, opening the doorway for such huge properties as The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner.
Why not give James Bond a bit of the young adult treatment, then? You mightn't be aware, but there already exists a wildly successful series of young adult spy novels known as the Young Bond series. The books centre on a teenaged Bond who attends school at Eton College in the 1930s. That in itself is an interesting concept: seeing Bond exist in the time period when his creator, Ian Fleming, was in his prime.
Young Bond would focus much more on developing the character of Bond, allowing us to see what his life was like after the death of his parents and how he gradually developed his proclivity for spy-dom. Besides, with seven books in the series already published, there's a huge amount of source material to draw from.
And with the Bond franchise currently stuck awkwardly between trying to balance “super serious and gritty” and “good old-fashioned campy fun”, a Young Bond movie could be the way to break from that mould. Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman has shown there's plenty of room for younger spies to be brilliant.