Even though Ana De Armas’ character Paloma receives hardly any screen time in No Time to Die’s 163-minutes, she deserves her own James Bond spinoff. Paloma is a new CIA agent working with Felix Leir (Jeffrey Wright) who Bond (Daniel Craig) meets up with in Cuba. They manage to infiltrate a Spectre meeting, but things quickly go South as they attempt to collect MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik). Although Paloma's presence is short-lived, her out-sized impact on the plot and popularity with viewers – not to mention her abilities as a highly-skilled agent in her own right – outline her credentials as a new Bond-worthy protagonist.

The 25-movie-long James Bond franchise notoriously doesn’t do spinoffs. Barbara Broccoli, one of the franchise’s producers, has stated, “It would be like making Hamlet without Hamlet” in an interview (via The Hollywood Reporter). She also specified that while there are other characters like M and Q (both of whom have been portrayed by various actors), a movie featuring a main character from the franchise wouldn’t make sense unless Bond also appears – most likely because their roles are so heavily intertwined.

Related: No Time To Die's Original Ana De Armas Plan Would've Killed The Bond Movie

Paloma should be an exception to this rule. She is arguably the most exciting new character featured in the franchise in years and quickly became an audience favorite despite her meager amount of screen time. Besides that, she has proven that the 007 franchise is ready to move past the Bond Girl archetype, who is meant to be very beautiful and largely incapable of defending herself. Craig’s Bond has been slowly evolving past this tradition, and even though Paloma is a brand new agent, she picks his clothes and leads him through the mission instead of vice versa. This is a direct contrast between Craig’s first outing in Casino Royale in which he tells Vesper (Eva Green) which dress to wear and guides her through every aspect of their assignment. Paloma is a force to be reckoned with, and the character proves herself to be more than capable even without 007.

Ana De Armas No Time To Die

Part of the reason this bend in the rules makes sense is that Paloma isn’t a main character in the franchise the way M and Q are, and viewers have fallen so in love with her that many believe Paloma needs to return for Bond 26 even more than classic Bond names like M and Q. However, the franchise should take it even further by offering the character her own spinoff film, or even a separate series. MI6 consistently works with Bond directly because he is one of their agents, so a film centered around one of his coworkers that ignores him wouldn’t make logical sense. Paloma, on the other hand, is a CIA agent, meaning she can exist completely independent of the Bond persona. 007's presence would not be missed the way it would in a film dedicated to another well-known MI6 character, and she would get the screen time audiences already feel she deserves after her very short first appearance.

Some audiences have argued that Ana De Armas is the perfect female Bond, citing that she would take the franchise in the direction it needs to go. However, this would be a hard sell with most Bond die-hards who have historically been reluctant to pass the name to a non-British actor. It also ignores the importance of a post No Time to Die James Bond successfully evolving into the 2020s which have been peppered with highly successful spinoffs, thanks to the MCU and Star Wars. Paloma is the perfect response to the shifting culture surrounding the James Bond franchise and entertainment as a whole. While she can’t be the next 007, she should be the lead of the first 007 spinoff.

Next: Ana De Armas' No Time To Die Role Shows What Bond's Future Should Be