Which James Bond Movies To Watch Before No Time To Die

No Time To Die is officially on the horizon – and there are several James Bond movies that audiences should watch before the new film releases. The latest chapter in the James Bond franchise, and the final for star Daniel Craig, is scheduled to be released on April 8, 2020. With some time left, Bond fans can easily catch up on some important entries in the franchise.

The 25th Bond film has a lot to be excited about. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga – notable for helming the fantastic first season of HBO’s True Detective and writing the screenplay for It – will direct. Rami Malek will play Safin, the film’s villain, fresh off his Oscar win for 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Additionally, Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag fame contributed to the script. Details are relatively sparse on the latest entry in the Bond franchise, but that doesn’t mean fans can’t do their homework and catch up on everything that has happened in the events leading up to it.

Considering that No Time To Die is a sequel to Craig’s other James Bond movies and is the final installment for his version of the character, not to mention the fact that it brings back characters from previous films, it’s highly recommended that audiences watch all of Craig’s James Bond movies – from Casino Royale to Spectre. That way, viewers will be fully caught up with every character and story detail leading up to No Time To Die. Furthermore, there’s one older James Bond movie – Dr. No – that may be pertinent to No Time To Die‘s story, if rumors about the villain are to be believed.

Casino Royale (2006)

Daniel Craig’s first appearance as James Bond is a high point for the franchise, taking what was the first entry in Ian Fleming’s series of novels and turning it into a singularly thrilling vision. With Casino Royale, director Martin Campbell went back to Bond’s origins, as the newly-licensed-to-kill MI6 agent faced off against terrorist financier Le Chiffre (a menacing Mads Mikkelsen) in a poker game, hoping to bankrupt him. With Craig in the lead role, it was a refreshing reboot for a series that had grown stale by the end of the Pierce Brosnan era, grittier and more layered than any 007 film in years.

Beyond being a critical and financial success, Casino Royale is the starting point for Craig’s Bond, and it started to lay the foundation – even if the filmmakers didn’t know it at the time – for a villain twist in the 2015 movie Spectre. Sam Mendes’ James Bond movies had their stories rooted in Bond’s family history, and to see where it all began, along with what type of MI6 agent James Bond is, Casino Royale is the place to start.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Marc Forster’s Quantum of Solace continues directly off where Casino Royale ended and sees Craig’s James Bond bring in Mr. White for questioning at the start. But the story unravels from there, with Bond getting entangled in a global conspiracy. Casino Royale teased a larger villain group at play, and while that group wasn’t explored in that first film, it was developed further in Quantum of Solace. That group was known as Quantum, which consisted of business executives and government officials. They were planning a coup d’état in Bolivia, which would’ve resulted in a newly established dictator as well as them controlling a substantial water supply.

Seeing how Quantum was able to not only cease control of businesses and governments around the world but also infiltrate MI6’s top ranks is important to understanding and believing the story developments in Spectre and, presumably, No Time To Die, since Blofeld makes a return in the new movie. Quantum’s status was altered in later films, but Quantum of Solace properly showcased just how deep the group was in government affairs. This included cutting deals with the CIA.

Skyfall (2012)

Sam Mendes’ Skyfall took a step back from the government-toppling plot points in Quantum of Solace for a more personal arc for James Bond. However, it still took threads from the previous film, specifically those about MI6 being corrupted, and further developed them. But, again, it did so in a personal way, focusing almost entirely on the actions of James Bond and Judi Dench’s M. Skipping over Quantum of Solace and going directly into Skyfall would be fine, but watching that film first is helpful in properly picking up on all of the storylines, no matter how small.

Javier Bardem turned in a memorable performance as the villain Raoul Silva, who was once an MI6 agent assigned to Station H. Silva’s tragic story and revenge plot is intriguing in and of itself, but seeing the lengths he goes to in order to expose M’s past decisions lays bare all of the security issues in the UK’s government. On top of that, it ends Dench’s time as M and introduces her replacement: Ralph Fiennes’ Gareth Mallory. Skyfall is perhaps the most important James Bond movie to watch before No Time To Die if one wants to understand who James Bond is as a person.

Spectre (2015)

If audiences were to watch any one James Bond movie before No Time To Die, it would need to be Spectre. This installment tied all of the Craig’s other Bond movies together by introducing the iconic villain organization Spectre, which was controlled by Christoph Waltz’s Ernst Blofeld. Blofeld returns in No Time To Die along with Lea Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann. So watching this movie before No Time To Die is hugely important for understanding who the characters are, but beyond that, it will also explain virtually everything that’s happened to James Bond since he became 007.

After the rights issues with the Spectre name were resolved, the Quantum group was retconned as a division of Spectre. Despite the movie’s twists receiving backlash and the fact that so many elements of Craig’s Bond movies were retconned in various ways, Spectre does try to bring everything together in a cohesive way while also setting up No Time To Die. Not watching Spectre would likely be problematic for watching No Time To Die.

Spectre ends with Bond driving away with Swann, and the first shot of the No Time To Die trailer sees the two in a car together, appearing to be in a heated argument as they are under attack by men with guns. It’s likely not the same scene, but it appears that the upcoming film takes place not long after the events of the previous one. Blofeld is shown multiple times behind bars in the trailer, conversing with Bond in perhaps a Hannibal-type role as he attempts to thwart Rami Malek’s villain. From just these points, it’s important to watch Spectre.

Dr. No (1962)

Unbelievably, the James Bond franchise has been around for nearly 60 years now. To see where it all started would be to go all the way back to 1962, where a young Sean Connery starred in what would be his breakout role as the first ever 007. The first entry, Dr. No, was one of the best installments, featuring a memorable villain (Joseph Wiseman as Dr. Julius No) and the first Bond girl (Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder). But fans have also been theorizing that this film will be very relevant in relation to the new one.

A popular theory that has been making the rounds is that Rami Malek’s villain in No Time To Die is actually Dr. No. It wouldn’t be the first time they revive a classic Bond villain – Blofeld had a number of appearances throughout Connery’s run as Bond before reappearing in Spectre. In the trailer for No Time To Die, Malek’s Safin wears a similar outfit to Wiseman’s Dr. No; in No Time To Die, he wears a black turtleneck sweater instead of a white one. The settings also look similar, and just as Wiseman holds Connery hostage in a futuristic lair on a platform above water, it appears Malek does the same to Craig. Only time will tell if this theory holds weight, but it might be wise to watch the original in case there are similar elements in the new film.

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