Judi Dench is looking back on how she learned that her James Bond character would be killed off. The British icon got candid about playing M in eight Bond films in her new memoir, “Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?”
She played the role of 007’s MI6 chief from 1995’s GoldenEye through 2012’s Skyfall, in which M was killed off. The actress then had a very brief cameo in Spectre. Dench recalled during a conversation with actor and director Brendan O’Hea, “I was taken to the Wolseley restaurant by Barbara, Michael and Sam [Mendes, the director] – I don’t think Daniel Craig was there – and they outlined the plot and told me they were going to bump me off.”
“My own fault, I suppose. Ever since ‘Goldeneye,’ when the entire film unit went off to Monte Carlo and St. Petersburg, and I only had three days in Watford, I’d been begging them to let me out from behind my desk. Well, they did finally let me out from behind my desk… and they shot me,” Dench added, laughing.
Ralph Fiennes delivered the news before Judi Dench’s final Bond scene
In her book, Judi Dench also joked with O’Hea about Ralph Fiennes, who took over the mantle of M from her in Spectre. “Apparently, it was Daniel’s idea to have me killed. But first I had to suffer the indignity of being sacked by Ralph Fiennes. Arsehole,” she joked.
Dench continued, “It was reported in the press that I’d cried when they told me I was being replaced. Of course I didn’t cry. Why on earth would I cry after twenty glorious years and eight Bond films – which, by the way, is one more than Roger Moore, the longest-running 007 to date.”
Meanwhile, Jack Lowden and Callum Turner have both surfaced in speculation about who could succeed Daniel Craig as 007. As the search for the next James Bond continues, the upcoming film will mark the beginning of a new era for the iconic 007 franchise.