After massive speculation, beginning with a single-sourced report on July 8 from U.K. tabloid The Mirror, followed by a smattering of follow-ups—and then a July 24 multi-sourced confirmation in The New York Times—fans were 99.9 percent sure that Daniel Craig would be returning as James Bond.
The only person who hadn’t commented on the fact? Craig himself.
That is, until last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, on which Craig appeared to shill for his latest film, Logan Lucky. Asked Colbert: “Daniel Craig, will you return as James Bond?” And Craig answered: “Yes.” Then the crowd went wild.
Craig went on to say “he couldn’t be happier” with the decision, and explained that he’d kept the news to himself for “a couple of months,” which confirms the validity of The Mirror‘s report. (Another Bond-related report, which reportedly nodded to a working title and filming locations from the tabloid sparked controversy among the Bond community.)
When Craig said he “always wanted to” reprise his role as Bond to Colbert, the host took exception, citing the now widely cited interview the actor did after Spectre wrapped with TimeOut London, where he said “I’d rather … slash my wrists” than play Bond again. Craig said that the reason for his reaction was that he’d done the interview just a handful of days after completing filming the previous movie and was worn out.
Watch the full interview below.
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