Charlie Higson Ponders Young Bond 2.0

Exciting news for fans of Charlie Higson’s interpretation of James Bond: the author is exploring possibilities of creating further adventures beyond this year’s By Royal Command.

Speaking with BBC News, the five-time Bond author revealed, “I want to have a break and do some other stuff for a while. But I’d love to come back and write some more.”

Higson continued, “By Royal Command ends with James Bond leaving Eton an older and wiser boy. One thing I’ve been talking about possibly doing is a second sequence of books for a slightly older readership, maybe taking him up to and into World War II.”

Higson admitted that as Bond grows, it is difficult to maintain the same readership demographic. “He’s approaching the age of 15 in this latest book and I couldn’t continue writing this type of book for this age group with Bond at the age he is.”

So, what sort of content would Higson like to cover in a potential Young Bond 2.0 series?

“As each book has been more and more successful, everybody is asking ‘can you do more than that?’ The question of sex is the hardest thing – one of the facts we get from one of Bond short stories is that he lost his virginity aged 16 in a brothel in Paris. I don’t think I can quite get away with that for a 10-year-old reader.”

When asked if the French brothel would feature in a future novel, Higson replied, “It would certainly be part of the next sequence – I think we would see a bit more of what was going on there.”

The author has clearly maintained a strong working relationship with Ian Fleming Publications that should auger well for potential future James Bond adventures.

“It’s been fantastic writing these books,” Higson said. “I would hate to sever my partnership with the world of Bond. I know quite a lot of the Fleming family now, and they’re all fantastic.”

Despite these comments, no further James Bond novels by Charlie Higson have been formally announced. Following publication of By Royal Command, the author plans to take a break from Bond to write some original novels as part of a three-book deal with Puffin.

By Royal Command is due out in September. The paperback edition of Hurricane Gold, Charlie Higson’s fourth Young Bond title, will be published in May.

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