James Bond filmmaker Sam Mendes has hinted the secret agent could retire at the end of his next adventure.

In a new behind-the-scenes video, the director explained his reasons for returning to the franchise and said that the 24th movie - called Spectre - will "be driven" by 007, who is played by Daniel Craig for the fourth time.

"The reason why I am doing another Bond movie is the reason why I would do any other movie really, which is because of the story. In this movie, Spectre, what you have is the movie entirely driven by Bond," Mendes said.

"He is on a mission from the very beginning - he is on a hunt, on the trail of somebody. You don't know who and that sense of something is up is tied to the second part of a crucial story. Once that was cleared, and those two things were on the table, I felt I had to do it."

Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear reprise their roles as Bond's MI6 colleagues in the film.

He continued: "On top of that, I felt I'd initiated Ralph as M, Naomie as Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw as Q, and I wanted to tell the next stage of this story, and develop them as characters much, much more."

Mendes, 49, revealed Bond's friends will help him in his latest mission, which sees him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation known as Spectre (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).

"In this movie, they - in their different ways - help him and they risk their careers and their livelihoods," he explained.

"And I think, what's interesting about what's happened post-Skyfall is Bond is the one that has more experience than they did and I think he's got a greater wisdom.

"That's what the movie is about - whether or not to pursue the life he's always pursued, whether he matters and is he going to continue or not. You'll have to come see the movie to find out whether he does."

Spectre, which will be released on November 6, also stars Andrew Scott, Christoph Waltz and Dave Bautista, alongside Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci.