I’ve been a big fan of John Rhys-Davies ever since I listened to the cast commentaries on The Lord of the Rings Extended Cut DVDs. He’s absolutely hilarious on them, the epitome of the classically trained luvvie. He’s had landmark roles as Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise, played Gimli and Treebeard in the aforementioned Lord of the Rings and General Leonard Pushkin in James Bond movie The Living Daylights.
It’s that last one that led a journalist to ask him what he thought of the prospect of a woman taking over as Bond after Daniel Craig, with the actor saying:
“My heart quakes at the thought of a female Bond. That would seem to me to be not quite what the author originally intended. “But, ‘The drama’s laws, the drama’s patrons give, For we that live to please, must please to live’ And that’s the rule for it all.”
He’s quoting Samuel Johnson, who was explaining that the dramatic arts must adapt to the times or else risk losing the interest of audiences. And while he doesn’t seem particularly enamored with the idea of a female Bond, he doesn’t seem that fiercely opposed to it, either.
During the same interview he was asked about the current state of the Bond franchise and said:
“I think that every Bond brings his own individual qualities to it. I loved Timmy’s [Timothy Dalton’s] but I really do think that the current one is wonderful too.”
Persistent rumors from the set of No Time To Die indicate that we will indeed see a female 007 of sorts in the movie. Word is that the plot will have Daniel Craig’s Bond called out of retirement for one last mission, only to find that in his absence the 007 codename has been given to a new character.
She’s known as Nomi and will be played by Captain Marvel actor Lashana Lynch. While there’s no indication that the franchise as a whole will switch focus to Lynch’s new 007 (the James Bond series tends to soft reboot with each new star), if Nomi proves popular enough she may well warrant her own spinoff. And hey, if audiences really like her maybe she could carry the franchise into the future?
Besides, after 25 movies maybe it is time to mix things up a little? Plus, it’d make a lot of really unpleasant people very angry. Double win!
