James Bond finally gets the origin story we’ve been waiting for in ‘Spectre’

Skyfall took James Bond to new heights, grossing $1.1 billion worldwide to become the most successful 007 installment in history. The 2012 blockbuster killed off Bond’s boss, M (Judi Dench), and found Her Majesty’s most deadly secret servant (Daniel Craig) struggling to stay relevant in a post-spy world. But returning director Sam Mendes can only see that film in terms of unfinished business. “Bond has been rebooted at the end of the movie,” Mendes says. “This is only the beginning of the story.”

Spectre provides a kind of culmination to the three previous films while developing a backstory that’s been largely unexplored until now. “The Bond creation myth never happened,” Mendes says. “I felt there was an opportunity there: What made him? And who were the people who affected him along the way? You’re sort of telling the story backwards of how Bond became Bond.”