007 producer explains why she doesn’t want a female James Bond

There was uproar among the narrow-minded subset of James Bond fans when it was revealed that Captain Marvel‘s Lashana Lynch would be playing 007 in No Time to Die, and the actress revealed that she was subjected to exactly the sort of abuse you’d imagine from the unsavory side of social media.

Even though the moniker is nothing more than a code name used by MI6 to send its operatives into the field, some folks just couldn’t handle the thought of anyone other than the title hero sporting it. Using the furor to his advantage, director Cary Joji Fukunaga made the 007 debate one of No Time to Die‘s best running gags.

Preliminary talks are underway over the identity of the next actor to inherit the tux now that the Daniel Craig era is over, and in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Barbara Broccoli reiterated once again why she doesn’t want to see a female James Bond.

“I think it will be a man because I don’t think a woman should play James Bond. I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles. I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”

You could only imagine the backlash were a woman to be named as one of cinema’s iconic characters, and it definitely wouldn’t be worth the hassle in the long run. There’s plenty of room for better and more well-developed female figures in the James Bond saga, without having them play the title role.