Ahead of the highly anticipated Amazon reboot of James Bond, a new sequel has now been announced three years after we last joined the iconic super spy on a world-saving adventure. Details for James Bond 26 remain largely under wraps, aside from the recent revelations that Dune’s Denis Villeneuve will direct a script written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Thankfully a lot of information, including a plot and release date, has now been confirmed for the next 007 novel.
The author behind the original “Young Bond” series and the smash-hit 2023 novella “On His Majesty’s Secret Service,” Charlie Higson, will now take the helm of the franchise after being “commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write his first full-length adult James Bond continuation novel,” according to MI6 – The Home of James Bond. Titled “King Zero,” the novel is now all set for release in September 2026, with Higson calling the opportunity to bring a new 007 mission to the beloved series “very exciting” and “something special.”
“It’s very exciting. It is very hard to get people excited about books, so when the publisher goes to this level of effort, it says a lot. There I finally am after over 20 years of toiling in the world of writing James Bond! My first big, full-length Bond novel is coming out, and it’s really exciting to be part of the world of James Bond. It’s something special.”
Michael Joseph
Plot details for the 007 sequel have also now been revealed, with “King Zero” featuring all the classic tropes, including a mysterious assassination, betrayal, a ticking clock, and plenty of globe-trotting. You can check out the newly revealed plot details below…
Le Chiffre. Dr No. Goldfinger. James Bond has faced them all. But now the world is changing, and even 007 has no idea what’s coming for him…
It starts with a murdered agent in the Saudi desert. Only a traitor could have known enough to bring him down. But even James Bond can’t guess at the secret that was worth killing him to keep. As Bond follows the trail across the globe, he doesn’t realise the countdown has already begun. And hiding in the shadows is a man with more power than he could ever have imagined.
Prepare for a villain unlike any before.
Prepare for KING ZERO.
While this may not be the big screen James Bond follow-up, the fact that the new novel is taking Bond back to the Middle East, deals with traitors from inside the British government, and will introduce a new, hugely powerful enemy, could well be a sign of things to come when James Bond 26 does eventually come out of the shadows and into the light.
Eon Productions
For now, all we know about the James Bond reboot is that the franchise now falls under the Amazon MGM Studios umbrella, with the streamer now in control of the creative direction of the iconic spy after producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson chose to step down back in February last year. The current favorites for the role of Bond, meanwhile, remain Fantastic Beats star Callum Turner, Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi, 28 Years Later star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, The Gentlemen’s Theo James, and The King’s Man star Harris Dickinson.