James Bond screenwriter John Logan has revealed that the draft script for the next film is “almost done”.The scribe, who wrote Skyfall, said Bond 24 will follow on from the last movie, which starred Daniel Craig as 007. Sam Mendes will return to direct the next instalment, with Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes also returning to their roles.

“Right now the first draft is almost done. I’m terrifically excited about it!” John told Empire.

“The new movie continues the themes of Skyfall. Some of the characters and themes that we began to introduce in Skyfall will play out, I hope successfully, in the next movie.”

John hinted there may be references to the older Bond films too, although he remained tight-lipped over specifics.

“There might be! Honestly, not being evasive, but the great thing about Bond is that I have 50 years of movies – 23 movies and all the Ian Fleming novels and short stories, all of which are fodder,” he continued.

“When I’m working on the new Bond I’m constantly going back to Fleming and the other movies… One of the things we learned in Skyfall is that the audience really enjoyed when we had references to things they grew up with, either from Ian Fleming or from the other movies, and that’s always been a part of my thinking about Bond.”

The 52-year-old revealed Daniel is quite involved in the writing process too.

“It behoves no-one to write a character that the lead actor doesn’t want to play, so having worked so closely on Skyfall, I have my own sense of what I think Dan responds to, as does Sam, (and producers) Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson of course,” he said.

Bond 24 will be released on October 23, 2015.