Bond, Not Bond: Daniel Craig confirms his retirement from the James Bond franchise

Next year's April release, No Time to Die, will be Daniel Craig's fifth Bond movie overall, and while that doesn't hold a candle to Roger Moore's record of seven Bond films, it will break a Bond record in another way: Longest Amount of Time Filling James Bond's Shoes (Which Probably Conceal a Dagger). Clocking in next spring at 14 years portraying Bond, Craig will catapult over Moore's record of 12 years, and then ... stop. That's right; he's definitely done. Last night on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Craig confirmed that his next role as Bond will be his last, and he's hanging up his cocktail glass. (Craig reportedly breaks the mold for Bond actors in another way. His Bond has been estimated to be the hardest-drinking iteration of Bond, with a whopping average of 21 drinks per movie, though we have not watched every Bond movie and counted every clinking of ice cubes ourselves to check this.)

Check out Craig's announcement below (it's nestled in there, but it's there) and watch for some other Bond anecdotes and fun facts regarding co-star Rami Malek and Bond screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge. 

It's pretty great to learn that Craig approached Waller-Bridge to co-write on Bond, and kissed co-star Rami Malek after they worked out a scene. (The header for The Late Show's video says this was after a writing session, but we suspect it was more likely in rehearsal, since Craig and Malek are both actors on the film, not screenwriters, and lots of aspects of scenes are worked out in rehearsal among actors. This seems more likely to us.)

Craig also went on to discuss his upcoming murder mystery flick, Knives Out, which opens November 27 and features the British Craig sporting an accent drawn from somewhere in the American South. Directed by Rian Johnson, Knives Out also stars horror royalty Jamie Lee Curtis, here seen sitting in front of a whole bunch of knives. Knives out, literally. 

Hyped for a Bond changeover? Psyched for a Rian Johnson murder mystery?Let us know in the comments!