‘Skyfall’ Almost Had a Very Different Ending, but Daniel Craig Had Other Plans

Judi Dench’s M is one of the most beloved characters in James Bond history. She took over as head of MI6 opposite Pierce Brosnan in ‘GoldenEye’, then stayed through ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, ‘The World Is Not Enough’ and ‘Die Another Day’.

When Daniel Craig became 007, Dench stayed on. Her time as M ended with her death at the close of ‘Skyfall’ in 2012, one of the most emotional moments in the franchise. Now Dench is sharing her side of the story. In her new memoir, ‘Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?’, an excerpt of which was published by Variety, she revealed that killing off M was Craig’s idea.

“Ever since ‘GoldenEye’ … I’d been begging them to let me out from behind my desk,” Dench wrote. “Well, they did finally let me out from behind my desk… and they shot me.” She explained that she had long wanted more action. While the crew filmed abroad on ‘GoldenEye’, she said, she only got a few days of shooting in Watford.

Dench recalled learning about M’s fate over a meal at the Wolseley restaurant in London, where producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and director Sam Mendes told her they were going to bump her off. According to her account, Craig wasn’t at that meeting.

“Apparently, it was Daniel’s idea to have me killed,” she wrote. She also joked that she first had to suffer the indignity of being sacked by Ralph Fiennes, who took over as the new head of MI6.

The actress clearly hasn’t lost her sense of humor about it. She jokingly called her replacement a rude name, adding to the playful tone of the passage. Dench also used the memoir to correct a story that has followed her for years. She noted that the press reported she cried when she learned she was being replaced.

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She insisted that wasn’t true. Dench pointed out that she had just enjoyed 20 glorious years and 8 Bond films, joking that it’s 1 more than Roger Moore, the longest-running 007. Dench’s final appearance came with a brief cameo on a television screen in ‘Spectre’. She revealed in the memoir that the scene took only about an hour to shoot and left her disappointed.

As a result, she said she has never seen the film. Despite the jokes, Dench clearly loved the role. She wrote that she enjoyed playing M because it gave her the chance to put men in their place. She is especially proud of the moment when M called Brosnan’s Bond a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur. The line became one of the most memorable in her run.

‘Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?’ comes from St. Martin’s Press and is written as a conversation with actor and director Brendan O’Hea. Much of the attention has focused on her Bond years, especially with the franchise’s next era approaching.

Dench recently told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program that she can no longer perform on stage or in film. That makes her memoir an even more valuable look back at one of the great acting careers. For Bond fans, her stories show how much fun she had as M, even when it came time to say goodbye.