Sam Mendes has been discussing the eagerly awaited follow-up to his smash hit James Bond movie Skyfall.

The British filmmaker has hinted that the next outing for the superspy will continue a number of threads from the 2012 movie - which became the most-successful Bond film in history.

He told The Charlie Rose Show: "I started a number of stories that were incomplete. I cast a new M, I cast a new Moneypenny, I cast a new Q, I cast a new Tanner.

"There was a missing piece now. I felt like there was a way to create the second part of a two-part story."

He also went on to give his take on the reasons for Skyfall's popularity as he elaborated on the new movie.

"What we tried to do, and audiences seemed to embrace in Skyfall, was that for the first time characters were allowed to age, and they were allowed to acknowledge the passing of the years, and were allowed to acknowledge the history - in a kind of sly, mischievous way - the history of the franchise that they've been part of.

"And then I started to get really interested again, when they agreed to wait a little longer and not go immediately and not go with two movies but with one, which I felt very strongly about."

No casting details beyond Daniel Craig as 007 have been released yet, but Brit star Chiwetel Ejiofor is being touted as a likely candidate to become Bond's next adversary.