Even though Eon Productions bosses Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have made it abundantly clear many times over that a woman will never be cast as James Bond, the discussion continues to bubble away on the back burner of the pop culture conversation.
Having been a fixture of our screens for 60 years, you can only imagine the uproar and rioting in the streets were the next 007 adventure to hire a female lead. After all, longtime fans of the franchise were borderline apoplectic when Daniel Craig was first announced to be the latest name throwing on the tux, and that was because he had blonde hair.
There are plenty of other ways for actresses to indulge in a spot of globetrotting running and gunning, something Ana de Armas knows full well having been part of the Russo brothers’ impending Netflix actioner The Gray Man, while she’s got John Wick spinoff Ballerina and Chris Evans’ romantic adventure Ghosted on the way.
Speaking to The Sun, the fast-rising star explained why she doesn’t want to see a woman “steal” the role of cinema’s most famous secret agent.
“There’s no need for a female Bond. There shouldn’t be any need to steal someone else’s character, you know, to take over. This is a novel, and it leads into this James Bond world and this fantasy of that universe where he’s at. What I would like is that the female roles in the Bond films, even though Bond will continue to be a man, are brought to life in a different way. That they’re given a more substantial part and recognition. That’s what I think is more interesting than flipping things.”
You can’t deny that de Armas makes an excellent point. Instead of reinventing the wheel, the next stage in Bond’s evolution should see the long-running saga continuing to expand, grow, and move with the times.
