No Time To Die Just Got Hit With The Fate It Was Trying Hard To Avoid

The world turns, the seasons continue their terrible dance to the beat of the clockwork of eternity, and once again, No Time to Die's release date has been pushed back. 

The decision, announced by the filmmakers on Friday, October 2, marks the latest in a series of delays for the long-suffering 25th installment of Eon Productions' James Bond franchise. Once slated for release in April of 2020, it holds the unenviable honor of being the first tentpole film postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Variety. Having then been scheduled to hit theaters in November of 2020, its new release date is tentatively set for April 2, 2021. The latest delay crowns No Time to Die with another dubious honor: following Spectre's release in 2015, its 2021 premiere will mark the second longest period of time between James Bond films, with the gap between License to Kill and Goldeneye inching it out for first by just a few months.

The news comes courtesy of a joint statement from the filmmakers: "MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of 'No Time to Die,' the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience. We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing 'No Time to Die' next year."

The move is the latest in a string of big budget scheduling debacles, and bodes poorly for highly anticipated late-2020 releases like Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984 and Denis Villeneuve's long-awaited Dune.

The announcement is doubly disappointing, given that No Time to Die is expected to be the last hurrah of incumbent 007 Daniel Craig. After years of informing reporters that his days with the franchise were numbered, the 52-year-old actor looks set to make good on his word, with producers on the picture confirming his departure following his fifth go-round as MI-6's most penicillin-resistant agent. Producer Barbara Broccoli described the importance of getting the movie's aesthetic right in an interview with No Time to Die: The Official James Bond Podcast, explaining that the production had pulled out all the stops "because it is the fifth and final one that Daniel Craig is going to be doing." That pretty much put the last nail in the latest Bond's coffin, time permitting.

With theaters in both Los Angeles and New York closed for the foreseeable future, speculation has made the rounds that No Time to Die might find itself in the company of other big budget productions. Mulan, Scoob, and Artemis Fowl, among others, were all sent directly to streaming services, circumventing the ambiguous wait times until the United States' larger markets reopen. MGM and Universal's decision to ride out theater shutdowns may eventually bring us a big screen viewing of No Time to Die, but not until after eager audiences have had plenty of time to kill. In the meantime, heartbroken fans will just have to make do with the literal dozens of previous Bond movies, consoled by the fact that, while a new series entry will certainly be novel, Diamonds Are Forever is forever.