Since this touches a bit on unfinished business, I sure hope he back to the lovely lady from the beginnings of DN and FRWL. This entire topic raises an interesting production and story-telling question. It's been addressed in the books commissioned by the Ian Fleming Foundation.
In the books there already have been retro-fill-in stories, going back to adventures which occurred between stories which already have been depicted. Additionally, there are the Young Bonds.
Might it be interesting -- in addition to Period (in their own time) productions of the Young Bonds, to present Period productions of stories before and between the Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig films ?
Disney obviously sees it as worthwhile to produce a Han Solo prequel, a Bobba Fett prequel, etc. They'll find actors to portray the characters everyone already knows well. You know, going in, that Solo and Fett won't die, but that won't stop the films from being fun, exciting and SUCCESSFUL. Disney plans to release 6 Star Wars films in the next 5 years (2016 already April, through 2020). Some will be continuing the trilogy started by the most recent release, and others will be stories depicting events which occurred before the first Star Wars film (now called "A New Hope") from 1977. (Those events did not necessarily precede those in the second set of 3 films, prequels to the first trilogy (the George Lucas mucks-it-up trilogy). As for seeing a prequel or fill-in Bond, sure, we know he won't die. Sure, he won't be played by the same actor who played the role for stories in the same time period or the one which followed. But couldn't it still be fun, exciting and likely successful ?
I think the current model of Bond production tells them this could be cannibalistic. It could present a Bond actor to the audience whom they prefer to the current Bond. But I think that should just push them to make high-quality films with scripts that are COMPLETELY thought through.
I realize there is a BIG difference in this idea vs. Star Wars. The Star Wars films will not all involve the same protagonist. Making a bunch of Adult Bond prequels or fill-ins will result in some lack of credibility -- when does he heal ? how many adventures could ONE man have ? But...so what ?!!? This is fiction ! Besides, Bond's missions tend to occur over a matter of days, perhaps a couple weeks. FURTHERMORE -- it opens the door to, say, a Felix Leiter movie, or Honey Rider movie, etc. The producers already considered this -- the idea of "side adventures of interesting characters from the films" -- for Jinx. (I know many fans are not fond of her character, but this discussion is concerned with a story-telling and production, not her character, specifically). You could even have depictions of adventures of villains. For example -- Silva, before he was captured. Not all the villains would lend themselves to this, but some would. Largo ?
In other words, take Bond from being a one-film-at-a-time production of films in a linear sequence, to period films in various periods plus current ones. It would work ONLY if done to the highest standards, as employed in the Potter films (with young actors), and the Star Wars film just released and those on the way. It would allow for using different directors, different actors, more-or-less fantastical elements, etc.
