On the bright side, should EON Productions want to enter the business of remaking the entire catalog of Fleming novels into faithful adaptations, these changes might help modernize things a bit. That is especially true as fans of the books and films are rather mixed, trending towards negative about the Ian Fleming Estate’s decision. At the same time, this new development will more than likely put extra focus on balancing the classic Bondian charm with modern filmmaking. The recent run of films are certainly lightyears ahead of the social and sexual politics that surrounded the Sean Connery era of James Bond, as well as the books that inspired them. At the moment, there’s no script or casting currently in play for Bond 26, news that was also handed down by Broccoli herself. Strangely enough, this comes at a time when even James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has mentioned that the next 007 will be a “reinvention” of the character and franchise. This explains how some of Fleming's more colorful passages, like that 'sweet tang of rape' mentioned in Casino Royale, have survived this new initiative. Again, the focus seems to be on softening the language rather than completely replacing it.

Publications like The Independent have actually started collecting what has, and what hasn’t, been changed in the new printings, and it’s definitely not a full cleanse. The full text of the Ian Fleming Estate’s message goes on to note that in some cases, like in Casino Royale, the books “remain completely unaltered.” Referring to the 1955 edition of Live and Let Die that published a text that was edited on some of those very grounds mentioned above, the Fleming family have a template as to how they want to move forward. Some racial words likely to cause great offense now, and detract from a reader's enjoyment, have been altered, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and period. We thus decided to apply the sensibilities of the original US edition of Live and Let Die consistently, across all the texts.

We took that as our starting point, but felt strongly that it was not our role to comb out every word or phrase that had the potential to offend. As the author's literary estate and now publishers, what responsibility did we have, if any, to review the original texts? We consulted with a number of external parties, but ultimately decided that, rather than make changes in line with their advice, it was instead most appropriate to look for guidance from the author himself.

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