All of which is to say: congratulations, Denis Villeneuve! You've just landed the hardest-to-get directing job in Hollywood. The 58-year-old French-Canadian auteur will be helming the 26th Bond film - the first since longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson sold the franchise earlier this year to Amazon for a reported $1 billion.

The ‘Dune’ mastermind will put his fingerprints on 007—and we’re expecting big changes from the Villeneuve era.

In the 50-plus years of James Bond, the wait between films has never gone longer than six years. The next entry, and first since Daniel Craig's dramatic exit, may test that — but things are speeding up.