The next James Bond ‘can be of any color, but he is male,’ says Barbara Broccoli

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son

In Britain, it’s a national past time to dream-cast James Bond. Dream-casting 007 is such an easy story to write, it’s now an international story whenever someone says something about James Bond, or when a certain actor is “rumored” to be considered for Bond. It’s been a conversation, in earnest, for years now, especially when people thought Daniel Craig wouldn’t be coming back for Spectre, and then again when no one knew if he would come back for No Time To Die, which comes out in April. NTTD is, for-sure now, Daniel Craig’s absolute last outing as Bond. After that, it’s back to the drawing board.

That’s part of the reason why Variety put the Bond franchise on their new cover. The bulk of the cover story is about the two stewards of the franchise, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson (they are half-siblings), what they want for Craig’s last outing, and what they want for the future. It’s promotion for NTTD of course – they hype the new Bond Girls, Ana de Armas and Lashana Lynch, and the return of Lea Seydoux as Bond’s latest true love or whatever. You can read the full Variety piece here. Here’s the part that interested me:

On April 10, “No Time to Die,” Eon’s 25th Bond adventure, will hit U.S. theaters, representing a moment of both triumph and uncertainty for the series. It serves as the culmination of Daniel Craig’s critically acclaimed, massively successful five-film run as 007; this time, after threatening to turn his back on the series for years, the star is insistent that he is finally holstering Bond’s Walther PPK for good.

“I’m in total denial,” says Broccoli. “I’ve accepted what Daniel has said, but I’m still in denial. It’s too traumatic for me.”

Already, the media has begun speculating about who could step into Bond’s impeccably tailored tuxedo, with everyone from Idris Elba to Richard Madden finding himself at the center of chatter. Broccoli and Wilson insist they haven’t started to map out a post-Craig world; they’re focused on completing “No Time to Die,” an enormous, $250 million production. But they seem open to broadening the search beyond the usual suspects.

“You think of him as being from Britain or the Commonwealth, but Britain is a very diverse place,” Wilson says.

There are certain things the duo appears open to considering, and other conversations that are nonstarters, when it comes to selecting the next Bond. “He can be of any color, but he is male,” says Broccoli. “I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I’m not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.”

[From Variety]

I mean… at this point, I kind of agree, with stipulations. I agree with the general principle that Bond should be a man and that it probably wouldn’t work to suddenly make a female Bond within the existing franchise and framework. That being said, this is an entirely fictional world and honestly, why not. The idea of creating those female leads who kick ass and get to be super-spies and slay dudes in the bedroom and outside of the bedroom… it’s a beautiful dream and those roles should exist. But they rarely do exist, which is why the “female Bond” conversation happens. As for the other stuff… I take that to mean that Broccoli and Wilson will be open, in the casting process, to a lot of actors of color.

Richard Madden poses at The World Premiere of 1917 and Royal Film Performance on Wednesday 4 December 2019

Premiere Of Universal Pictures' "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw"

Chiwetel Ejiofor attends the 22nd British Independent Film Awards on Sunday 1 December 2019

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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24 Responses to “The next James Bond ‘can be of any color, but he is male,’ says Barbara Broccoli”

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  1. Veronica S. says:

    I’m fine with this, but only for two reasons:

    1.) There are certain aspects of the James Bond character that very gendered to me – and that gendering is definitively male. If you change Bond to a woman, you have to inevitably alter how people perceive her, how her actions would have to change as a female spy maneuvering her way through these things. (To some extent, I’d argue Bond is even *racially* coded, though in a less obvious and intentional manner – his whiteness is inherently part of why he can get away with a lot of things.)

    2.) The boys can have their spy fantasy. I’m more interesting in giving female creatives the room to create their own universes outside the restrictions of a story created by a man, particularly one that is fairly sexist to begin with.

  2. Lucy says:

    I agree with that point of view, yeah. Also, I kinda wish Joe Dempsie would audition for it, but I’m mostly biased because I just love him so much. He’d probably prefer any of his Skins friends (Nick Hoult, Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, Jack O’Connell) to take over 007 instead of himself, though.

  3. Lua says:

    Also, as we saw with Ghostbusters, people have hangups with changing the gender of the characters and it would be setting the women up for failure. Much better to create a story in the next film about his equal and give her a spin-off franchise.

  4. Valiantly Varnished says:

    I actually agree with her on this. Mainly because of who Bond is and how he was written. He’s essentially a misogynist who sees women as tools. Why would we want to make a female version of that? We are already getting to a point in society where Bond himself is a bit of a dinosaur so I think it would be better to create a female character who is her own person in her own right with her own story to tell. I REALLY wish they had made Angelina Jolie’s film Salt into a franchise. That was a REALLY compelling spy character. Same goes for Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde. And they are the only two actresses who have the presence to pull those roles off IMO.

    • lucy2 says:

      Atomic Blonde was so good, I wish it had done better at the box office.

    • sammiches says:

      I rewatched Salt this weekend and, like every other time I’ve watched that movie, I said out loud “WHY WAS THERE NO SEQUEL?!” at the end. That movie was such a fun watch.

  5. CheleBelle says:

    Henry Golding should be the next James Bond.

    Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

  6. FHMom says:

    I agree with her. Keep Bond male and write better characters for women. Bond is an anachronism and not much of a stretch for an actor. Women can do better.

  7. Originaltessa says:

    I have no problem with iconic characters remaining, well, that character. James Bond is a dude… Ok, let’s build on that. Make him more interesting and move him into the new decade… but he can still be a dude. That’s fine.

  8. Juxtapoze says:

    Sam Heughan is at the top of my wishlist for the new Bond! Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Emerald City/Haunting of Hill House) I could see in the role as well.

    • megs283 says:

      YESSSS. I just came here to say the same thing.

    • coolspray says:

      Michel Huisman!

    • Call_me_al says:

      Sam or Idris!
      Idris just has that natural sex appeal, badassness, and confidence. He is so handsome and talented!!!
      Sam doesn’t portray the same vibe when he’s promoting projects or in interviews. He comes off as very warm and gentle and humble. Great qualities, especially combined with his amazing bod. But on-screen as Jamie, he is cocky, masculine, angry, tender, and just everything.
      Henry could be good too but might also have an image that is too nice for a Bond guy. Or maybe Bond can be more vulnerable with a new leading man.

  9. Leriel says:

    I agree with her, buy I want to see franchise getting rebranded totally, and changing main actor won’t help, even if he will be POC.

    Another side of the coin is that Bond franchise has more stable style than Star Wars, and changing something rapidly may destroy it, and, imo Bond woman is way radical change than black Bond (or Asian, or other race than white).

    PS: Henry Golding as Bond – yes please!

  10. lucy2 says:

    I do hope they go with someone other than a white guy for the next one. I’ve never been much of a Bond fan, but I kind of want to see this one for Ana and Lashana.

    Considering how much money these producers have made off of the Bond franchise, I hope they channel some of that into some other films with women in the lead.

  11. Allergy says:

    I agree, Bond is a guy like Mary Poppins is a woman. I hate it when they try to force characters to become something else. Just write a whole new female spy franchise, or a male nanny fairytale.

  12. Wilma says:

    No one’s going to mentions her name? BROCCOLI?!

  13. Alyse says:

    Second Henry Golding!