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It's Bond Day, in case you missed it – 5 October has become a worldwide celebration honoring the world of 007, thanks to it marking the day of the global debut of the first Bond film, featuring Sean Connery, back in 1962. Think of it as a bit like May the 4th, with fewer Wookiees and Ewoks and a whole lot more elegant confidence.

A Low-Key Celebration Now

This year however, the arrival of the 007 celebration is a bit like a damp squib. Not long has passed following the acclaimed director was confirmed to direct the upcoming 007 movie earlier this year, and even less time that Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight was hired to pen the screenplay. But there’s been almost no indication afterwards of the new 007 getting unveiled, and very little idea about the direction this iconic film series will proceed. All we have are unconfirmed reports through film industry sources implying that the creative team will be looking for a comparatively fresh-faced British actor, possibly from a diverse background yet will not be a female actor, a franchise star, or a person slightly known.

Letdown for Bookmakers

This is, of course unwelcome developments for the many online bookmakers that have earning significant profits for some time through efforts to suggest bettors that the competition is between Callum Turner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Henry Cavill, Theo James, Leo Woodall plus the charismatic star from Saltburn who’s secretly Australian.

Revisiting Newcomers

Interestingly, the last time the 007 series opted for a total unknown took place in 1969, with George Lazenby briefly took up the Walther PPK. Before that, Connery himself certainly wasn’t a star: he performed several supporting roles and done a bit of stage and modelling work as well as working as a bodybuilder and milkman in Scotland prior to accepting the main character in the first film. The creative heads intentionally rejected an established star; they wanted an unfamiliar performer whom audiences would accept as the actual character, rather than as a performer portraying Bond.

Repeating this trick may end up as a brilliant tactic, similar to how it worked back in the sixties.

Impact of Villeneuve

But getting the director Denis Villeneuve suggests that there are no excuses whatsoever should the next 007 proves to be a stiff. Increasing the exploding pens and double entendres is no longer an option with a director like is a serious filmmaker specializing in cinematic genres most famous for dense futuristic stories in which the most intense element is deep philosophical tension.

A bruiser in a dinner jacket … Daniel Craig in 2006’s Casino Royale.

Updated Vision for the Franchise

However, to a large extent, selecting this director provides clear signals we need to know about the new post-Craig phase. It's unlikely there will be vehicles that disappear or sexual innuendos, and we probably won’t be getting the southern lawman again shortly. This entire situation is, of course, perfectly acceptable if you like your 007 contemporary in style. But it doesn’t tell us how Villeneuve’s take regarding the stylish official killer will distinguish itself from the 007s who immediately preceded him especially if the upcoming phase doesn’t choose to set the narrative in the original time period.

Reinventing Every Period

Craig stood out at once as a different type of elegant secret agent upon his debut on the scene in the 2006 film, a bruiser in a dinner jacket who would never be caught dead in a stealth vehicle, or trading sex puns alongside Denise Richards while handling explosives. He caused Pierce Brosnan’s gadget-addled smoothie which recently had been considered by some the finest agent since the original, look like an imitation Connery badly reheated. This pattern is familiar. Lazenby succeeded Connery temporarily, Brosnan came after the overlooked Dalton, and cheesy late-era Roger Moore followed brilliantly dead-eyed and callous early Roger Moore. Each Bond period reshapes the previous, however, every version remains in its unique manner James Bond 007, and worth raising a glass to. It feels odd, during this year's the current 007 Day, that we are being invited to honor a character who remains unidentified.