According to Variety, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are taking over rewriting duties for the next James Bond movie, which is tentatively titled Bond 24 due to its use of advanced 24-bit graphics.The pair are far from new to the series, having actually written every James Bond movie since The World Is Not Enough in 1999.
For Skyfall, Purvis and Wade’s script was rewritten by John Logan, and he was on tap to write Bond 24 by himself. Now, though, his script is being rewritten by the guys whose script he rewrote last time, turning this whole thing into the sort of twisty plot that an action hero like Jason Bourne would feel at home in. Logan had reportedly intended to use the next two Bond movies to tell one cohesive story, so it’s unclear if that’s still the plan now that his script is being rewritten. MGM always seems to be running out of money every few years that a Bond movie isn’t in theaters, so it’s possible the studio got nervous about guaranteeing a sequel. After all, the series has only been going for 50 years, there’s no telling when people will get sick of it.
Anyway, whenever an established screenwriter is brought onto a project, it’s useful to look back at their résumé and see if we can predict how their next movie will turn out. Purvis and Wade wrote Skyfall, which was good. But they also wrote Quantum Of Solace, which was bad. But they also wrote Casino Royale, which was good. But they also wrote Pierce Brosnan’s last two Bond movies, which were full of potassium benzoate. What we’re saying is that this could go either way. Who knows.