Mark Strong seems to have confirmed that friend Daniel Craig has stepped down from his role as James Bond.
The actor has claimed that Craig has ‘done what he wants’ with the part and won’t be returning to the franchise.
In an interview with Shortlist, he said: “Do you know what, I’d have loved to have played the villain in a Bond movie while Daniel was doing it because he’s a pal and that would have been great.
“But I think he’s come to the end of his Bond time and so it’s probably never going to happen, but that would have always been great.”
When asked if he could try and persuade Craig to do one more film, Strong said: “Well, I will try, believe me, I will do my best. But there are powers at work greater than us who make all these decisions.”
He added: “He has been [wonderful] and he’s loved it. But I think he feels like he’s mined it. He’s done what he wants with it. That point has come.”
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Craig has stayed tight-lipped about whether or not he will return to play the part one more time, despite joking last year that he’d rather ‘slash his wrists’.
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The actor is thought to be under contract for one more film following last year’s Spectre but is rumoured to have already stepped down.
Stars including James Norton, John Boyega, Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston are rumoured to be in the running to take over the role.