20 Years Later, Daniel Craig's Casino Royale Is Still The Best James Bond Reboot

Published Oct 3, 2026, 12:20 PM EDT

Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW.

20 years on from Daniel Craig's debut as James Bond, Casino Royale remains the franchise's best reboot. It's easy to forget now, but Craig's casting as 007 was hugely controversial when it was announced. He broke the mold of many previous James Bond actors in many areas, from his blond hair to his supposed lack of "grit" - at least according to classy news outlets like The Sun.

Of course, history would prove he was perfect casting, with Daniel Craig's James Bond movie run being one of the series best. He brought a toughness, charm and emotional depth to the title character that previous films largely ignored, and fronted some of the best James Bond movies, period, including Skyfall and 2006's Casino Royale.

Craig came into the franchise at a critical point. While Pierce Brosnan's last 007 adventure, Die Another Day, was a huge success, it was also critically mocked, and it was clear a fresh start was needed. Around the same time, producers landed the rights to Ian Fleming's original 007 story, Casino Royale, and used that key text to launch a younger, more grounded James Bond.

How James Bond Was Previously Rebooted

While the franchise had been operating for over four decades before Craig arrived, it had weathered many ups and downs. One of the first came with the exit of Sean Connery, who had played Bond in five movies and who (originally) departed with 1967's You Only Live Twice. An unknown named George Lazenby was cast, with producers intending to show 007 himself was the star, not the actor playing him.

In truth, On Her Majesty's Secret Service was less a reboot than a changing of the guard, and while it is very highly regarded now, the film received mixed reviews at the time. Lazenby unwisely opted to quit the series, and Connery was paid a VERY handsome sum to return for the next outing, Diamonds Are Forever. The next film, Live and Let Die, became Roger Moore's debut. The movie is a great spy romp, but tonally, it is stuck between Moore's wittier, campier style and the grittiness of a Connery adventure.

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Moore stayed for seven installments, and the series swerved again with Timothy Dalton's casting. Producers knew the James Bond saga needed to shed the silliness of Moore's era, so Dalton's run features a more serious, darker tone, especially his second and final adventure, Licence to Kill. Again, the response to Dalton and his movies is warmer in hindsight, but audiences weren't prepared for a serious Bond back in the late 1980s.

A legal dispute kept 007 off the big screen for six years following Dalton's last film, but it came roaring back to life with 1995's GoldenEye. Pierce Brosnan breathed new life into the MI6 spy; he's incredibly dashing and funny, but he can turn ice-cool when the character needs to. More than that, Brosnan's soft reboot proved there was life in the series yet, working as a solid action movie while updating the themes for a new generation.

Why Casino Royale Did It Better

It's little wonder GoldenEye director Martin Campbell was selected to reinvent Bond once again with Casino Royale. Craig's first adventure is underpinned by a great story, showing 007 at the start of his career and learning how brutal the job is. It stripped away the usual Bondian tropes (no Q, no Moneypenny, no gadgets, etc.), and the action was more grounded - meaning no space lasers or volcano lasers.

When it appeared Roger Moore wouldn't return as James Bond for 1983's Octopussy, American actor James Brolin came very close to playing the role.

Casino Royale is more emotionally nuanced and viscerally violent, where Bond can bleed and doesn't always come out on top. It also has the most compelling and tragic love story of the series, with Eva Green entering the Bond Woman Hall of Fame as the doomed Vesper Lynd. The movie just works; it's got superior action and writing, performances, style, and it proved that even after 40 years, James Bond could still find fresh terrority to explore. Hopefully, the same will be true for Denis Villeneuve's upcoming Bond 26.

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  Casino Royale

  

  8/10

  Release Date

  November 17, 2006

  Runtime

  144 minutes

  • 

    James Bond

  • 

    Eva Green

    Vesper Lynd

  Casino Royale introduces Daniel Craig as James Bond in his first mission as a 00 Agent. Tasked with preventing the terrorist financier Le Chiffre from winning a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, Bond teams up with Vesper Lynd and Felix Leiter, kicking off a pivotal chapter in the espionage saga.

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  Genres

  Action

  Created by

  Ian Fleming, Albert R. Broccoli

  First Film

  Dr. No

  Latest Film

  No Time to Die

  Upcoming Films

  James Bond 26

  First TV Show

  Fleming: The Man Who Would be Bond

  The James Bond franchise follows the adventures of British secret agent 007 as he combats global threats. With a license to kill, Bond faces off against various villains and criminal organizations, employing high-tech gadgets, espionage, and charm. The series spans multiple films, featuring exotic locations, thrilling action sequences, and memorable characters. Bond's mission to protect the world and uphold justice remains central, making the franchise an enduring icon in the spy genre.