Til at starte med var det faktisk at meningen at Slumdog Millionaire-instruktør Danny Boyle skulle have forfattet og instrueret Daniel Craigs sidste Bond-film, der endte med at hedde No Time to Die.
Det endte dog med at Boyle faldt fra, og til sidst tog Cary Fukunaga over på projektet. Men hvordan så Boyles version egentlig ud? I et interview med Esquire UK afslører han faktisk, at agenten skulle have vendt tilbage til sine rødder i... Rusland:
"Weirdly-it would have been very topical now-it was all set in Russia, which is of course where Bond came from, out of the Cold War. It was set in present-day Russia and went back to his origins, and they just lost, what's the word... they just lost confidence in it. It was a shame really."
Faktisk var det at blive smidt af Bond en så skidt oplevelse for Boyle, at han har valgt at droppe "big franchises":
"I learned my lesson that I am not cut out [for franchises], otherwise you're digging in the same hole. I am better not quite in the mainstream franchise movies, is the honest answer. I learned quite a lot about myself with Bond, I work in partnership with writers and I am not prepared to break it up."