The new Bond trailer is here, but has it been worth the wait?!

The short answer is yes. And the long answer is well lots of gushing about car chases, camera techniques, VFX and beautiful cinematography... and explosions.

The wait for 007's return is almost over. Producers of the James Bond franchise have released the trailer for the forthcoming No Time To Die.

The latest installment in the franchise follows Bond after he has left active service and is enjoying a quiet life in the tropical paradise of the Caribbean. The enthralling trailer brings the high octane car chases, the gunfire and the glamour fans of the franchise have come to love and expect. Although the film has been marred by issues in recent months, with a "controlled explosion" damaging the outside of the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, leaving a crew member injured. And back in May, Daniel Craig was injured while filming in Jamaica, forcing the actor, 51, to undergo "minor ankle surgery".

But what about the filmmaking and production? What we can gather from the trailer is that no expense has been spared, with an estimated budget of $250 million we can assume everything including the kitchen sink has been through at this production including the best of the best in crew and kit.

Academy Award winner Linus Sandgren (American Hustle, La La Land) is the man behind the lens in No Time To Die partnering with director Cary Joji Fukunaga (It, Sin Nombre). The trailer shows off stunning locations, the beautiful camera moves, in the first 30 seconds we have an amazing action sequence that ends with 007 jumping off a bridge... (noting that there’s also an explosion in the first 30 seconds of the trailer too.)

By far my favorite shot of the trailer was at 2:10 where Bond rides a motorcycle up the side of some ruins over a crowd of people. It’s pure 007.

Bond movies have been standalone experiences, films that you could watch out of order and still enjoy as much as if you'd watched them in they order they were released in cinemas. But with so many characters returning (Léa Seydoux's Dr. Madeleine Swann gets a return in the trailer that's sure to have Bond fans gasping, and Blofeld's back again, albeit in captivity), it looks as if producers could be following the template of Marvel and other 'cinematic universes' by having everything interwoven in one continuous timeline.

The new trailer gives us our first good look at the new 007, played by British actress Lashana Lynch. Note that the 31-year-old isn't the next James Bond, but has rather taken on his codename after two years of James' retirement.

According to the Mail on Sunday, a "movie insider" said the opening scene of the new film shows Lynch being referred to as the spy's codename - as Bond himself has left the Secret Intelligent Service to retire in Jamaica.

The source said: “There is a pivotal scene at the start of the film where M says, 'Come in 007', and in walks Lashana who is black, beautiful and a woman. It’s a popcorn-dropping moment. Bond is still Bond but he’s been replaced as 007.”

If a new Bond is revealed at the end of No Time To Die (though in the best case scenario, Lynch gets to stay on as the series' focus), it's likely we'll get an in-canon continuation of the character, rather than a reboot.

The official release had been delayed from its original slated date of February 2020, and was announced as 3 April 2020.

But the new trailer confirms that the film will in fact release a day earlier, on 2 April.