'Bond 25' Brings On 'Bourne' Writer, Gets New Release Date

James Bond fans are going to have wait a little longer for the super spy’s return.

Bond 25 has, once again, pushed its release date from Feb. 14, 2020 to April 8, 2020. Daniel Craig’s next (and likely final) outing as 007 has also brought on The Bourne Ultimatum screenwriter Scott Z. Burns to rewrite the script, according to The Playlist.

The release date news broke via the official James Bond Twitter account last Friday, on the heels of Universal Pictures pushing the release date of Fast & Furious 9 from April 10 to May 22, 2020 to better take advantage of the film’s international release window strategy. (This time around, Universal will be handling international distribution for the Bond sequel. The franchise’s long-standing home studio, MGM, will handle domestic.) Bond 25 simply moved down into that free slot vacated by Dom and the gang. Bond 25‘s previous Valentine’s Day release date had some stiff competition from rival films – including Legally Blonde 3 – and now James Bond has the Easter weekend all to himself. (It should be noted that Bond 25 will be the first 007 adventure ever to open in April.)

Also, it’s likely the later release date is to help give the much-anticipated production the room new hire Burns needs to do production rewrites. Having previously been one of the writers on the third movie in Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne trilogy, Burns recently wrote and directed the CIA drama The Report, which sold at Sundance this year to Amazon Studios.

Burns is currently in London rewriting the script from Bond’s stalwart screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Casino Royale). The duo have worked on every Bond script for 20 years, starting with The World Is Not Enough in 1999.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but insiders say the movie is also looking to cast two actresses to play an MI6 agent working with Bond and another to play a mystery woman who comes into contact with 007. Most of SPECTRE‘s cast will return, including Ralph Fiennes as M, Lea Seydoux as psychologist Madeline Swann, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, and Ben Whishaw as Q. Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) is directing.

Bond 25, whatever it will be called, will mark the second longest wait between new Bond adventures in the franchise’s 50-plus year history. Audiences waited six years between 1989’s License to Kill and 1995’s GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s hit debut as Bond. It will be four-and-a-half-years between 2015’s SPECTRE and this latest installment.