Photo : Mike Marsland ( Getty Images )

Variety reports tonight that the producers of the resolutely unkillable James Bond film franchise have found their replacement for recently ousted director Danny Boyle, announcing that Cary Fukunaga will be helming the 25th film in the spy-action series. Fukunaga is probably still best known for directing the entirety of the celebrated first season of True Detective—and we have to confess that the prospect of some long, slow Bond tracking shots has already got our interest piqued—as well as 2015's Beasts Of No Nation. (He also just wrapped up work on Netflix’s latest engagingly strange dose of surrealism , Maniac.)


Per Variety, Fukunaga was something of a dark horse candidate for the Bond job; although his Emmy-winning work on True Detective is still held up as a landmark in the development of the look of prestige TV, his last big move in the world of film was walking away from the movie that ultimately became Andy Muschietti’s horror hit It. (Supposedly, New Line was worried he might “go rogue,” which is really more of a Mission: Impossible thing, but hey, we’ll take it .) He’s also got a particularly distinctive look and feel to his direction, which aren’t qualities that the Bond movies—which persist even as actors, writers, and directors come and go—necessarily prize . (Which may or may not have had s omething to do with Boyle’s departure, reportedly over conflicts with returning star Daniel Craig and long-time producer Barbara Broccoli.)

The as-yet-untitled 25th Bond movie is set to start filming next March, with an eye on hitting theaters in February 2020.