Barring a change of plans, Daniel Craig will be retiring from the James Bond role following No Time to Die, the milestone 25th film in the 007 franchise.

There was speculation that Craig would step down following the release of Spectre (2015), but he wound up signing on for a fifth Bond movie. And Craig has made it very clear that No Time to Die will be his 007 swan song.

It's anybody's guess as to who will succeed Craig as Bond. Countless big-named stars have been rumored as possible replacements, including James Norton, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Sam Heughan and Richard Madden.

Regardless of who takes over as the new James Bond, Craig offered some simple advice to his successor during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (h/t Alexia Fernandez of People).

"Don’t (expletive) it up," Craig said. "It's a beautiful, amazing thing. Leave it better than when you found it."

There doesn't appear to be any front-runner at this time, however. There was speculation that a female would be cast as the new 007, but Bond series producer Barbara Broccoli has confirmed that a male will continue to play the role.

The 52-year-old Craig is one of five actors to portray the legendary movie character. Sean Connery, the first 007 actor, and the late Roger Moore each starred in seven Bond films.

RELATED: James Bond Film No Time To Die Delayed Again Until April 2021

Timothy Dalton succeeded Craig in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). After Dalton decided against doing a third 007 film, Pierce Brosnan was cast as his replacement in GoldenEye (1995). Brosnan reprised the role in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).

Craig's first Bond film, Casino Royale, was released in 2006. That was followed by Quantom of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and the aforementioned Spectre.

No Time to Die was initially scheduled to be released in theaters back in April of this year. But due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the release was pushed back to November. However, the release date was  recently once again pushed back, this time to Apr. 2, 2021.

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