It’s not a good time to be James Bond right now. While I’m sure the next film will come out soon, they really are down to the wire in terms of locking down a director. If they’re unable to sign on a director and rewrite the screenplay by this coming December, there’s a good chance that late-2019 release date will be going “buh-bye.”

But it looks like MGM and Eon are getting close to narrowing down the list of who will be helming the next entry in the spy franchise. Two directors they have in mind are American Animals director Bart Layton and, perhaps most interestingly, S.J. Clarkson, who is set to direct Star Trek 4…a film that’s also facing some troubles.

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Yann Demange, who recently directed White Boy Rick, was initially a contender before Boyle was hired, and now the studios are looking to him as another possibility. Layton and Clarkson will likely be having meetings with the studio soon, so we’ll see how this whole deal goes.

They still seem to have a few big obstacles to overcome before that film can be considered truly in the works, and I certainly hope they’d push it back, if necessary. One other random detail that points to the film getting delayed is the news that star Daniel Craig signed on to a murder mystery movie from Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s Rian Johnson. They hope to shoot in November, and while sources stress it won’t interfere with Bond, it is odd that Johnson saw the Bond news as an opening to approach Craig.

Who do you want to see direct Bond 25? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: Variety