Update: Just for you lucky folks, we can now reveal some brand new exclusive new stills from our Bond coverage - pick up the new issue where you'll find even more lovely stills from Skyfall.

The October issue of Empire hits newstands today, heralding the arriving of our yearly winter preview, led this time by Daniel Craig's James Bond in Sam Mendes' Skyfall.

Flanked inside by the likes of Lincoln, Cloud Atlas, The Master, The Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Django Unchained, 007's return stands alongside some seriously heavyweight cinematic contenders, and Empire has the latest from every one of them.

In our extensive Skyfall coverage, Mendes and Craig reveal just how Bond's latest adversary, Silva, will be more than a match for MI6's finest. "[Silva] is larger than life in one respect but full of surprises - never entirely, at any given moment, exactly what you think it is. Javier takes some risks," explains Mendes.

"But he's an amazing actor and I think he gives you something you may consider to have been absent from Bond movies for a long time," he adds. "Silva's up there with the greats, for me, and that's why I worked very hard to persuade one of the great actors of the world to do it..."

As for whether he considers this a revitalisation of the franchise, Mendes says, "...There are quite a lot of new things in this movie, but I never had the intention to reinvent the wheel."

Bond himself also shared a few words on how it felt to put on 007's dinner jacket once more, telling Empire that he takes it very seriously indeed. “When I’m doing the movie I’m totally single-minded,” Daniel Craig said. "...I keep my energy levels as high as I can all the time. I want to inspire, and be inspired. And I’m lucky enough to work with some incredible people with vast experience."

"I was standing on top of a train in Turkey with this crew of people, I looked around and I thought, ‘You know, this is the best place to be for an actor.’ So I kind of give it all I’ve got, and then collapse for a while!”

And as anyone who's seen the latest trailer for Bond's 23 outing will tell you, it's pretty easy to see why Craig might be a little tired after all he's been through. For more details on that front, check out this special Empire Skyfall trailer breakdown here.

The October issue of Empire is on sale today, August 29. For more details on Skyfall and everything else in the issue, head this way — and be sure to take a look at our US and UK iPad editions available for download too.