Will Bond 26 avoid M:I 7 and 8?

A previous Eon James Bond avatar on Twitter

Whether intentional or not, Bond 26 may avoid competition from the next two Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible films.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part I is scheduled for 2023 and its follow-up, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part II is supposed to be out in 2024.

Meanwhile, Barbara Broccoli, boss of Eon Productions, has said Bond 26 won’t start filming for at least two years. A 2024 filming date most likely means the movie won’t be out until 2025. Bond 26 will feature a successor to Daniel Craig, whoever that is.

Obviously, that’s not official. Bond 26’s filming date isn’t set in stone and, until we know more, the next Bond film might not go into production until later. Based on various Broccoli interviews, there’s no new Bond actor selected, and work on a script hasn’t started yet.

There has been a lot of filming done on Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning but work may remain to finish the two-part saga. The two films are expected to be the final bow for Tom Cruise’s M:I saga, which began in 1996.

The last time we had a M:I film and a Bond movie the same year was 2015. That’s when Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation came out in the summer while Eon’s SPECTRE debuted in the fall.

Cruise’s M:I movies feature stunt sequences that appear to be homages to earlier Bond films. Yet, some M:I enthusiasts say Cruise’s movies have a sense of fun lacking in recent Bond movies.

None of this may be significant. But there’s a possibility Eon’s next Bond adventure won’t take place until after Cruise, 60, concludes his M:I run.