Steven Knight Teases Daniel Craig’s Bond Replacement and Comments on Script

Steven Knight broke his silence on how the James Bond script is going as he appeared on talkSPORT on Thursday. 

In August, it was announced the British screenwriter, 65, would write the latest 007 movie. 

Steven is best known as the creator of BBC crime drama Peaky Blinders starring Cillian Murphy, which has spawned a 2026 movie, whilst his new historical saga House Of Guinness launched on Netflix this autumn. 

Hosts Jeff Stelling and Gabby Agbonlahor, tried to quiz Steven on the plot and also who the next Bond could be. 

Daniel Craig, 57, stepped down from the iconic spy role after 2021’s No Time To Die, having starred in five of the films over a 15-year period. 

Steven said: ‘I absolutely can’t talk about anything to do with it.’

Jeff, 70, joked: ‘No pressure writing a screenplay for a Bond film I would imagine?’

To which, Steven replied: ‘I love it though. I mean, the only way to do the job is to do what you want to do and then if people like it, great. If they don’t, they don’t, so I try not to second guess what people want and just do what I think would be the best thing.’ 

Gabby then said: ‘So I can’t ask you who is playing Bond then?’, with Steven joking it’s former footballer and talkSPORT presenter Alan Brazil, 66.   

The latest Bond film is currently in development and is to be directed by Dune’s Denis Villeneuve, with Amazon MGM Studios overseeing the project after longtime producer Barbara Broccoli gave up creative control. 

Meanwhile, Amy Pascal and David Heyman are on board to produce the movie via Pascal Pictures and Heyday Films respectively, while Tanya Lapointe will serve as executive producer. 

Writing a new 007 is, Steven said is ‘exciting and thrilling’ but he has a free flow approach to his screenplay. 

He said: ‘I have no plan of how I’m going to get there.

‘Though I do know this character’s going to do this, this, and then they’re going to die, or they’re going to become king. So that’s the plan.’

Speaking about his involvement in the film last month, Steven told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: ‘It has always been on my bucket list and it’s fantastic to be invited to do it – I can’t wait to get started.

‘I’m hoping that, being a Bond fan for so many years, it will be imbued into me and I will be able to produce something that’s the same but different, and better, stronger and bolder.’

A number of actors have been tipped to step into his shoes, with stars including Taron Egerton, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Paul Mescal and Theo James thrown into the mix.

When pressed on who could be the new Bond, he responded: ‘That is a very, very good question, and one I can’t give you the answer to’.

The last outing for James Bond was 2021’s No Time to Die, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga on the writing team.

Speaking of the selection process for the latest film, Steven shared: ‘I was invited to a meeting with [producer] Amy Pascal, didn’t know what it was about, and very quickly discovered what it was about and became very, very excited and hopeful.

‘And then a process is followed where you do some meetings, you discuss some ideas, and then you find out you’ve got it.

‘So I found out a while ago but it was announced last night, which is great.’

He added that it was a ‘high pressure’ job, before noting: ‘you’ve just got to do what you do, do it as well as you can’.