Sam Mendes explains Bond 24 return

Sam Mendes has been talking to US chat show host Charlie Rose about what attracted him back to the director's chair for Bond 24 , with the primary motivation seeming to be a sense of unfinished business.

"I started a number of stories that were incomplete," explains Mendes. "I cast a new M, I cast a new Moneypenny, I cast a new Q, I cast a new Tanner. I felt like there was a way to create the second part of a two-part story."

"And then I started to get re-interested again when they agreed to wait a little longer, and not go immediately and not go with two movies but with one, which I felt very strongly about."

Mendes goes on to confirm that while the next film won't pick up the narrative in such a direct way as Quantum Of Solace did when following Casino Royale , it will very much represent a continuation of the themes and feel of Skyfall .

"What we tried to do, and what audiences seemed to embrace in Skyfall was for the first time, characters were allowed to age," says Mendes, "and they were allowed to acknowledge the passing of the years, and could acknowledge the history in a kind of sly, mischievous way."

He then makes reference to the delighted reaction of a test audience to the reveal of the DB5, accompanied by the classic Bond theme, as the final push that made him want to be involved with the process all over again.

If we can look forward to more of the same as what was delivered in Skyfall , we should be in for a treat when Bond 24 opens in the UK on 23 October 2015.