James Bond's Grave

Since Ian Fleming created James Bond in 1953, the fictional British spy known as 007 has defined the spy thriller. Fast cars, casinos, beautiful women, gun fights, high-tech gadgets, and snappy quips have all become genre staples thanks to Bond. 

Through the years, actors who have accepted the role of James Bond have become permanent fixtures of British and global pop culture, defining the careers of Bond actors, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. This popularity has made James Bond almost bulletproof.  

Across 27 films, Bond has faced hundreds of deadly situations only to come out the other side unfazed. So in 2021, for Daniel Craig’s final film as Bond, producers decided to do something unprecedented. For the first time, James Bond would die. (According to IMDB, Daniel Craig suggested the idea in 2006 when he first accepted the role.)

The location for Bond’s death needed to be as iconic as the character. The Faroe Islands were chosen for their dramatic landscapes with sheer cliffs and rough seas.

In Craig’s final Bond film, No Time To Die, Bond heroically sacrifices himself in a missile strike to destroy the bad guys’ secret base on the island and to protect his family from a nano-bot he is infected with that will kill them.

In Autumn 2019, the production team made their way to Kalsoy Island in the Faroe Islands, braving the harsh and remote conditions to shoot Craig’s final scenes. However, Daniel Craig never made it onto the Faroe Islands for filming. His scenes were all shot on a green screen.

After the film, Faroe Islands locals decided to commemorate the historic moment in cinema. Using locally sourced stone, a tombstone was erected at the point where James Bond stood and accepted his fate as missiles crashed down on him from above.

Located near Kallur Lighthouse on Kalsoy Island, the tombstone was unveiled in March 2022 and marks the death of the legendary cinematic character with the words M recited at the end of the film: “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.”

Although the next actor to portray the iconic character has not been cast yet, the final words on screen for No Time To Die promised that one day, we would see the return of Bond… James Bond.