James Bond director Sam Mendes casts doubt on a 007 return

Sam Mendes doesn’t think he will be returning to the James Bond franchise.

The 59-year-old director helmed 2012’s ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Spectre’ three years later but confessed that he is unlikely to come back for a third movie as 007 bosses plan a reboot following Daniel Craig's departure as Bond.

Speaking with Inverse, the filmmaker said: "Never say never, to quote the man, but I would doubt it.

"It was very good for me at that moment in my life. I felt like it shot me out of some old habits. It made me think on a bigger scale. It made me use different parts of my brain. You have to have a lot of energy."

Mendes added that Bond chiefs would probably be interested in signing a younger director to helm the next entry in the series because they would be "more controllable".

He explained: "They want slightly more malleable people who are earlier in their career who perhaps are going to use it as a stepping stone, and who are more controllable by the studio."

The moviemaker isn’t the only former James Bond contributor to doubt their future in the franchise, as Q actor Ben Whishaw recently admitted his time in the series was likely over because producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson would want "a completely new cast" for the reboot.

During an appearance on BBC One’s ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’, the 43-year-old actor said: "I don’t think I’m going to be in the next one. I think they’re going to start all over again, and with a new cast, a completely new cast, I think that’s my hunch, but I don’t know. I have no idea."

The ‘Paddington’ star did suggest that he was open to reprising his role as the MI6 gadgets whizz if the opportunity to do so ever arose.

He said: "I think it might need a kind of new lease of life and a whole new group of people. I think it could be good for it, but if they asked me, I would do it, of course."