Daniel Craig is reportedly ready to renew his licence to kill, two years after joking he'd rather "slash his wrists" than play James Bond.
According to the Daily Mirror, the actor has "changed his mind and is set to sign up for his fifth Bond movie".
With Adele tipped to repeat her Oscar-winning performance on the theme song, speculation has now turned to who will direct.
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Long-time director Sam Mendes departed the franchise last year, but a new name has emerged – Christopher Nolan.
The British-American director is known for his genre-changing, box-office smash hits such as The Dark Knight trilogy, as well as twisty, high-concept films Memento, Inception and Interstellar. He has also worked on the much-buzzed Dunkirk, an immersive war film based on real events from World War II.
He is also tempted by the idea of tackling 007.
"A Bond movie, definitely," he told Playboy magazine. "I've spoken to the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson over the years. I deeply love the character and I’m always excited to see what they do with it. Maybe one day that would work out.
"You'd have to be needed, if you know what I mean," he added. "It has to need reinvention; it has to need you."
So how would the director known for labyrinthine plots, non-linear storytelling and spectacular special effects tackle the spy franchise?
Ben Child in The Guardian suggests Nolan might approach Bond the way he approached Batman - "like a psychiatrist with a patient" and realise that to believe in the Dark Knight, "we have to understand where he comes from".
Child says it's also impossible to imagine a Nolan Bond movie without "gadgets, guns and cars", given the director's love of Batman’s techy paraphernalia and Batmobile.
However, adds the journalist, it seems unlikely Nolan would take on the task with Craig as 007, as this would give him less room to reinvent the franchise. A Nolan Bond would probably require a new spy, he says, and the name that springs to mind is Tom Hardy.
The Peaky Blinders star has worked with Nolan before and has even suggested him as potential Bond director. Earlier this year, when Hardy seemed a contender for the next 007, he told the Daily Beast Nolan would be "a fantastic director for a Bond movie".
He was "a very powerful figure to bring into that world", the actor said, and could "bring something new and create something profound - again".
A Nolan Bond might be on the cards, but we may have to wait until Daniel Craig finishes his stint to see it.
