The plot follows Bond, who has left active service with MI6, and is recruited by the CIA to find a kidnapped scientist, which leads to a showdown with a powerful and vengeful adversary armed with a technology capable of killing millions.

In addition to Craig, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, and Rory Kinnear also reprise their roles from previous films, with Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah also starring.

Five years later, Spectre agents infiltrate an MI6 laboratory to kidnap corrupt scientist Valdo Obruchev, who secretly works for Safin, and steal Project Heracles, a programmable DNA-targeting nanobot bioweapon developed under M's oversight.

Retired in Jamaica, Bond is asked by CIA ally Felix Leiter and State Department agent Logan Ash to extract Obruchev from a Spectre party in Cuba.

Bond accepts after Nomi, his successor as Agent 007, warns him not to interfere with her extraction of Obruchev and puts him in contact with M, who refuses to explain Heracles.

Despite his injuries, Bond shoots Safin dead and opens the facility's blast doors but remains on the island to ensure that the nanobots cannot harm Swann and Mathilde.

[30] In March 2017, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade—who have worked on every Bond film since The World Is Not Enough (1999)—were approached to write the script by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G.

[50][52] Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace screenwriter Paul Haggis turned in an uncredited rewrite in November 2018,[53] with Scott Z. Burns doing the same in February 2019.

An early unrealised idea he considered was to have seen the film take place "inside Bond's head", while being tortured by Blofeld in Spectre, up until the end of act two of a three-act structure.

"[69] When Boyle was hired, he pitched the film to take place in present-day Russia and explore Bond's origins; he left the production after Broccoli and Wilson "lost confidence" in the idea.

[72] The character of Paloma was made more significant from originally being a simple contact; Purvis and Wade indicated this was probably written by Waller-Bridge at Fukunaga's request.

Craig said the team tried to create a sense of tragedy and weight by using Safin's bioweapon, which killed "the only thing that Bond wants in life ... to be with the people he loves".

[88] Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen and Rami Malek were announced as cast members in a live stream, at Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate in Jamaica.

[112] In June 2019, production was further interrupted when a controlled explosion damaged the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and left a crew member with minor injuries.

[113] Also in June 2019, production went back to Norway to shoot a driving sequence along the Atlantic Ocean Road featuring an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

[124] In late August 2019, the second unit moved to southern Italy where they began to shoot a chase sequence involving an Aston Martin DB5 through the streets of Matera, including a doughnut in Piazza San Giovanni Battista.

[125] In early September 2019, the main production unit, Craig and Léa Seydoux arrived to film scenes inside several production-built sets, as well as further sequences in Maratea and Gravina in Puglia.

[147][148] In January 2020, Billie Eilish was announced as the performer of the film's theme song, with her brother, Finneas O'Connell, serving as co-writer as well as the track's producer.

[159] MGM secured the North American, digital, and worldwide television rights to the film through its distribution arm United Artists Releasing.

[170] By March 2020, the global spread of the virus and the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization prompted a joint open letter from two Bond fan sites addressed to the producers.

It was hoped that the rescheduling to November would ensure all cinemas, particularly those in China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and France that were closed due to the pandemic, would be open and operational.

[215] TheWrap said that the opening was good news for cinemas, even if the studio did not break even during the film's theatrical run, and that it was an encouraging sign for upcoming adult-oriented pictures.

The critics consensus states: "It isn't the sleekest or most daring 007 adventure, but No Time to Die concludes Daniel Craig's franchise tenure in satisfying style.

[230] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph described it as "extravagantly satisfying", "often very funny" with gadgets "both improbable and outrageous", and that it has been filmed with "gorgeous" cinematography, starting with "a sensationally thrilling and sinister prologue" and ending with a "moving conclusion".

"[235] K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone described the film as being "just fine: sometimes intriguing, sometimes not, sometimes boring, sometimes not", adding: "It's a bit more successful if we think of it instead as a tribute to the Craig era, and to the star himself.

[237] Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor gave the film three out of five stars, writing: "It offers up the requisite thrills, stunts, and bad guys.

John Nugent of Empire criticised its length (2 hours and 43 minutes), asserting that the plotting and exposition in the middle third "doesn't justify that heaving runtime".

[239] Kyle Smith of National Review also criticised the film's length, and described it as "the least fun and most somber excursion in the entire Bond series".

[240] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent found it uneventful and disappointing: its core premise of a biological weapon of mass destruction was described as "generic spy nonsense", while she felt that Rami Malek "gives almost nothing to the role beyond his accent and stereotyped disfigurement makeup".

[241] David Sexton of New Statesman wrote that the film "shows signs of emerging from an over-deliberated, market-sensitised production process", adding: "It delivers the set-pieces without ever trying to connect them with any urgency, almost like an anthology or re-mix.