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I'm done as Bond, Craig tells movie bosses: Star 'turns down £68m deal for two more films' as bookmakers stop taking bets on Tom Hiddleston being the next 007

Published: 22:39 GMT, 18 May 2016 | Updated: 05:16 GMT, 19 May 2016

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Daniel Craig has told studio bosses he is ‘done’ playing 007, sources claim.

The news comes just days after bookmakers called off bets on Cambridge-educated Tom Hiddleston becoming the next James Bond.

Craig is the highest-paid actor to play the role, netting a reported total of £38million for the four films he has appeared in.

Action hero: Daniel Craig has reportedly told studio bosses he is 'done' playing 007 and turned down a £68million offer from MGM studio to return as Bond for two more films

Favourite: It comes just days after bookmakers called off bets on Cambridge-educated Tom Hiddleston becoming the next James Bond

He has played Bond since 2005 and helped bank well over £2billion in box office revenue, helping ease MGM’s bankruptcy issues.

Insiders said Craig turned down a £68million offer from MGM studio to return as Bond for two more films following last year’s hit Spectre. The sum included endorsements, profit shares, and a role for him working as a co-producer.

One LA film source said: ‘Daniel is done – pure and simple – he told top brass at MGM after Spectre. They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasn’t what he wanted.’

He added: ‘He had told people after shooting that this would be his final outing, but the film company still felt he could come around after Spectre if he was offered a money deal.’

One source said that executives had finally agreed to let the actor go after growing tired of his criticism of the franchise.

Craig, 48, told interviewers last year that he would rather ‘slash my wrists’ than agree to another Bond film.

He has played Bond since 2005 and helped bank well over £2billion in box office revenue, helping ease MGM’s bankruptcy issues

One source said that executives had finally agreed to let the actor go after growing tired of his criticism of the franchise

But he later said he was contracted for a fifth film and would agree to it ‘for the money’.

Before Bond, the actor, married to actress Rachel Weisz, was best known for thriller Layer Cake, being Angelina Jolie’s love interest in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and various TV roles. Craig has been plagued with a knee injury sustained filming a Spectre fight scene.

The source said: ‘With knee problems and general exhaustion, he felt it was a journey with an ending.’ The studio delayed the next Bond film after Craig committed to a 20-episode US TV adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s novel Purity.