Judi Dench Says Daniel Craig Proposed Killing Off M in Skyfall

Dame Judi Dench says Daniel Craig was behind the decision to kill off her character, M, in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall. She makes the claim in her new memoir, according to Esquire and The Lagos Review, which cited Variety.

The book, titled Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, was published Nov. 3 by St. Martin's Press. In it, the 91-year-old Oscar winner looks back on her years as the head of MI6 across eight 007 films.

What Dench says about the meeting where M's fate was sealed

Dench writes that producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, along with director Sam Mendes, took her to London's Wolseley restaurant. There they laid out the plot and told her M would be killed, Esquire reported. She said she did not think Craig was at the meeting.

The detail that drew attention came afterward. "Apparently, it was Daniel's idea to have me killed," Dench wrote, according to Esquire.

The Lagos Review said Dench treated the news with humor. After years of asking producers to let M leave her desk-bound role, she noted, her exit was carried out on screen. Dench also dismissed media reports that she wept when she learned she was being written out. She said she was proud of her run, which spanned eight films, one more than Roger Moore made as 007.

How M changed over eight films

Dench first played M opposite Pierce Brosnan in 1995's GoldenEye. The Lagos Review said the casting was a major modern overhaul for the franchise, since it put a woman in charge of the fictional British Secret Intelligence Service for the first time. The character was inspired by the real-life appointment of Stella Rimington as head of MI5 in 1992.

Dench said she enjoyed the authority the role carried. Over the years the character's backstory grew to include studying law at Oxford and having two daughters. Her full name, Olivia Mansfield, was revealed only in Dench's final major appearance in the role.

The Lagos Review described the run as lasting two decades in one passage and as a 17-year screen presence in another, so the exact span is described inconsistently. Esquire noted that Dench lasted just three films after Craig joined the franchise in 2006's Casino Royale.

Dench praised both Brosnan and Craig for bringing different strengths to Bond. She observed that the films moved from the suave, effortless tone of the 1990s to a darker, more realistic portrayal under Craig.

M's death in Skyfall was not Dench's last appearance. She filmed a cameo for the 2015 film Spectre, appearing on a television screen, which took one hour to shoot, The Lagos Review reported.

Why it matters for Bond fans

The memoir offers a rare first-hand account of how one of the series' most talked-about plot turns came about. M's death in Skyfall ended a run in which she bridged the Brosnan and Craig eras, and Dench's account indicates it was Craig who proposed it.

It also adds to what Esquire called Craig's history of shaping his films' story. The magazine noted that Craig has previously spoken about his wish to kill off Bond himself, and that 007 died in his final film, No Time to Die. Dench's account suggests the lead actor had a hand in the fate of a major supporting character as well.

For viewers who followed the series across the two eras, the memoir also gives Dench's own view of the character she played for years, the authority she enjoyed and how she felt about leaving.

Read next
What the Released 911 Calls Reveal About Christa Pike's Failed Execution
How a Flydubai Co-Pilot Allegedly Planned a 9/11-Style Attack on Ben Gurion
Coroner Links Actor Richard Norton's Death to Unapproved Peptide Injection

Around Prague, based on reporting by The Lagos Review, Esquire