James Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade will reportedly return for Bond 25

It’s not entirely a surprise given their longtime connection to the franchise, but The Daily Mail‘s Baz Bamigboye has just posted to twitter a James Bond franchise update that claims that the screenwriting pair of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade will be returning to script the upcoming 25th franchise entry. He also adds that star Daniel Craig has not yet made a decision as to whether or not he’ll be back as 007.

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Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have been working as James Bond writers since 1999’s The World is Not Enough, starring Pierce Brosnan. Most recently, the pair worked with John Logan and Jez Butterworth on the script for 2015’s SPECTRE. Starring Daniel Craig, SPECTRE grossed over $880 million at the worldwide box office. Oddly enough, Purvis and Wade weren’t originally planning to be a part of SPECTRE, issuing a statement in 2012 that prematurely announced their departure from the Eon Productions franchise.

While director Sam Mendes (who helmed both Skyfall and SPECTRE) has stated that he won’t be returning for the new film, all eyes are now on Daniel Craig to see if he follows suit. If the star returns for Bond 25, it will mark his fifth big screen appearance as 007. At the moment, however, he’s tied with Brosnan and still three films behind both Sean Connery and Roger Moore. (Although one of Connery’s seven was the non-Eon Never Say Never Again).

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How do you feeling about the returning James Bond writers? Are you happy to hear that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade will be back? Who would you like to see step in as a director now that Sam Mendes is out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!