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Arriving this weekend is 007 Day, for those who didn't know – the fifth of October is recognized as a international celebration honoring the world of 007, thanks to the fact it commemorates the date of the international launch of the inaugural 007 movie, featuring Sean Connery, back in 1962. Think of it comparable to Star Wars Day, with fewer furry aliens and an abundance of tuxedoed swagger.

A Subdued Celebration Currently

This year however, the advent of James Bond Day seems somewhat anticlimactic. It's only been following the filmmaker was confirmed as the director the next Bond film in June, and even less time that writer Steven Knight was hired to pen the screenplay. However, we've seen almost no indication since then regarding the next Bond being officially announced, with minimal clarity about the direction this long-running series is going next. What remains are unconfirmed reports from entertainment outlets suggesting that the producers intend to cast a comparatively fresh-faced Brit, who might be a person of colour yet will not be a female actor, an established star, or somebody slightly known.

Bad News for Bookmakers

Naturally, this is a setback for the numerous online bookmakers that have earning significant profits for months now by attempting to persuade bettors that the competition is among Callum Turner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Henry Cavill, Theo James, Leo Woodall along with the attractive actor from Saltburn who’s secretly Australian.

Revisiting Newcomers

Interestingly, the most recent occasion the movie franchise chose a complete unknown was in 1969, with George Lazenby temporarily assumed the Walther PPK. Before that, Sean Connery certainly wasn’t a star: he had taken some small movie parts plus occasional acting and modeling gigs while also employed as a bodybuilder and milkman in Edinburgh prior to accepting the main character in the first film. The film's producers deliberately avoided an established star; they sought an unfamiliar performer who the public would believe as the actual character, rather than as a performer portraying Bond.

Repeating this trick might prove to be an ingenious move, exactly as it was back in the sixties.

Impact of Villeneuve

However, bringing in Villeneuve on board means that there is no get-out clause at all should the next 007 proves to be a stiff. Increasing the over-the-top gadgets and suggestive humor is off the table when your new director is a serious filmmaker specializing in cinematic genres best known for thoughtful science fiction in which the most intense element is the audience’s own existential dread.

A tough guy in formalwear … Daniel Craig as Bond in Casino Royale.

Updated Vision for James Bond

And yet, to a large extent, selecting this director reveals a great deal we should understand concerning the fresh era after Daniel Craig. It's unlikely there will be stealth automobiles or double entendres, and we probably won’t be getting the southern lawman again shortly. These changes are, of course, quite alright for those who prefer your 007 contemporary in style. Yet it fails to indicate how Villeneuve’s take on Britain’s suavest state-sponsored assassin will be unique from the 007s that came before him particularly should the next chapter decides against to set the narrative in the initial decades.

Redefining Each Era

Craig stood out at once as a different type of dapper super-spy as he appeared in the franchise in 2006’s Casino Royale, a tough character in formal attire who would never be seen in a stealth vehicle, or exchanging suggestive lines with Denise Richards while defusing a nuclear warhead. He made the previous Bond's polished style which recently had been considered by some the finest agent since the original, appear as a karaoke Connery badly reheated. This is not unprecedented. Lazenby succeeded Connery temporarily, Brosnan followed the overlooked Dalton, and the silly final Moore films came after the intense early Moore. All franchise chapters reshapes the previous, however, every version remains distinctively James Bond 007, deserving of a toast. It's somewhat strange, as we apparently celebrate the current 007 Day, that we are being invited to toast one who doesn’t even exist yet.