Daniel Craig’s about to have his last outing as 007 in No Time to Die, which means that EON will have to find a new James Bond for the first time since Craig was cast in 2005. Back then, there was controversy over the fact that the new Bond was blonde. But, just to show how much the world has changed since, now there’s an increasing call for the next 007 to be a woman.
One former inhabitant of the iconic role is on board with the idea, too. Pierce Brosnan, who played James Bond four times between 1995’s GoldenEye and 2002’s Die Another Day, spoke on the topic of a female Bond at the Deauville Film Festival. He revealed that he thinks it’s time for male actors to “get out of the way” and let a woman take over.
“Yes! I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years, get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there. I think it would be exhilarating, it would be exciting..I don’t think that’s going to happen with the Broccolis. I don’t think that is going to happen under their watch.”
Brosnan’s probably right about that last point. In response to all the rumors of a female Bond replacing Craig, producer Barbara Broccoli commented that she doesn’t think that’d be the right decision for the franchise as it’d move away from the core source material – the original novels by Ian Fleming.
That said, it’s looking likely that there will be a female 007 in the next Bond film, after all. Lashana Lynch’s mysterious character Nomi is reportedly set to be a secret agent who’s been appointed James’ old codename, after the spy left MI6 at the end of Spectre to retire with Madeline Swann. This may go some way to appeasing those, like Brosnan, looking for a female James Bond, but it seems certain that whoever takes over from Craig will still be male.