Daniel Craig Reportedly Turned Down $100 Million to Return as James Bond

Daniel Craig turned down a $100 million payday for more James Bond films.

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The James Bond franchise is devoid of all hope for getting Daniel Craig back after the 48-year-old actor reportedly turned down approximately $100 million to reprise his role.

According to the Daily Mail, Craig is the highest paid actor to play Bond to date. For reference, that's over the course of almost 54 years of James Bond films and six actors stepping to the role of Bond. Craig himself has portrayed Bond in four films that have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. The Daily Mailreported Craig banked about $43 million total for the films.

A "LA film source" reportedly told the Daily Mail: "Daniel is done—pure and simple—he told top brass at MGM after Spectre. They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasn't what he wanted." Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) has distributed the Bond films.

How huge are these alleged amounts? MGM reportedly offered Craig about $100 million to return for two more Bond films after last year's Spectre. They even tried to sweeten the deal by offering to let him be a co-producer on the films. A $100 million payday is pocket change for the Bond franchise. This is the same franchise that destroyed about $34 million worth of cars for Spectre.

The previously mentioned source also told the Daily Mail: "He [Craig] had told people after shooting that this would be his final outing, but the film company still felt he could come around after Spectre if he was offered a money deal."

Craig's refusal to return is due in part to a knee injury he reportedly got when shooting a Spectre fight scene. On the bright side, Craig’s rejection might mean we're that much closer to Idris Elba taking on the iconic agent 007.

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