Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond could soon be over - the author commissioned to pen the next 007 adventure plans to make his superspy a 30-year-old Afghanistan veteran.
Crime writer Jeffery Deaver's untitled new James Bond novel is due for release in May (11) and he tells the USA Today newspaper there are some big changes in store for 007.
The writer says, "The novel is set in the present day, in 2011. Bond is a young agent for the British secret service. He’s 29 or 30 years old, and he’s an Afghan war vet."
Current Bond Craig is 42 and the literary 007, created by Ian Fleming in the 1950s, would be close to 90.
Deaver is not the first renowned writer to tackle Bond - Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Sebastian Faulks have each taken the baton from Fleming, who died in 1964 - but Deaver insists his 007 will be a very different superspy.
He adds, "I want to stay true to the original James Bond, who many people don’t know much about.
"People know Daniel Craig, they know Pierce Brosnan, they know Roger Moore and Sean Connery, all of whom brought a great deal to the stories of 007. But the original Bond was a very dark, edgy character."