James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli holds firm on her stance that the next iteration of 007 should be a man. No Time To Die marked the end of an era for Bond upon its release this past October. After five films of varying quality, giving fans hits like Casino Royale and Skyfall and disappointments like Quantum of Solace and Spectre, Daniel Craig finally retired as the British superspy, sending the character out with a bang.
With the Craig era now officially over, talk has already started about who will be the next James Bond. While Lashana Lynch's character, Nomi, briefly holds the title of 007 in No Time To Die – the first woman in franchise history to do so – she ultimately relinquishes the title by the end of the film, leaving her future in the franchise in question. Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Richard Madden, and Henry Cavill frequently appear in fan castings but as of yet, Bond producers Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have remained relatively quiet about the future of the iconic British character.
In a new interview with THR, however, Broccoli does confirm that, although she's open to having a Black Bond, she doesn't think the next iteration of the character should be a woman. According to Broccoli, instead of putting a woman in a historically male role, there should be a renewed focus on making new and better wholly female characters for female actors. Check out Broccoli's full comment below:
“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].”
Broccoli's comments echo some Craig himself made several months ago, wherein he asserts that, rather than make a female Bond, there simply needs to be better roles for women. While it sounds like a future female Bond is unlikely, Broccoli does seem open to having actors of other ethnicities and races taking on the character (as long as they're British). Idris Elba has long been a fan-favorite as the next Bond but, considering he's now almost 50, that seems unlikely.
It remains to be seen how the James Bond franchise will evolve and change with the next iteration of the character, but one thing fans can now be sure about is that that Bond will remain a man for the foreseeable future. Both Nomi and Paloma (Ana De Armas) from No Time To Die have been very popular with fans, proving that female spy characters don't need to be Bond in order to grab audiences' attention. While Broccoli and Wilson previously stated that they wanted to refrain from discussing the future of Bond in order to give Craig's swansong space, it seems likely that more news about 007 will start coming early next year after No Time To Die releases on Blu-ray. The search for a new Bond will take months, but it's almost guaranteed that audiences will have a much better idea about the future of James Bond by this time next year.
Source: THR