Warning: SPOILERS for No Time To Die.
Madeleine Swann's (Léa Seydoux) twist in No Time To Die is a sly payoff to the firestorm of controversy that met Daniel Crag's initial casting as James Bond. No Time To Die is Craig's fifth and final film as 007 and he proved to be the most popular and successful James Bond actor of the modern era. But No Time To Die's surprising reveal of the secret that James and Madeleine have a daughter winks at the vitriol that Craig endured before the release of Casino Royale in 2006.
Daniel Craig was cast as James Bond in 2005 and he was greeted with an angry and abusive response from the press in the same way that Michael Keaton, and later Ben Affleck, were attacked when they each were cast as Batman. Headlines proclaimed Craig was "James Bland" and "James Blond," and the actor's physical attributes were weaponized against him. At 5'10", the blond-haired and blue-eyed Daniel Craig broke James Bond tradition that 007 be over six feet tall with dark hair, even though Roger Moore also defied the 'look' of James Bond when he was cast after Sean Connery and George Lazenby. However, when Casino Royale was released to raves and big box office, Daniel Craig triumphantly fixed his criticisms. Craig ultimately redefined 007 en route to his incredibly successful, record-setting run as the longest-tenured actor to play James Bond.
In No Time To Die, the fact that Daniel Craig's James Bond has blue eyes was intrinsic to the twist that James is the father of Madeleine's four-year-old daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet). Madeleine initially lied to Bond and claimed he wasn't Mathilde's father, but James protested and pointed out her "blue eyes." Later in the film, Safin (Rami Malek) told 007 that Mathilde was, in fact, his daughter, which Madeleine finally confirmed. Bond recognizing his own blue eyes when he looked at Mathilde cleverly turned what was once an issue about Daniel Craig playing James Bond into a crucial plot point that ensured 007 leaves a legacy behind after Bond sacrificed his life for Madeleine and their daughter.
Remarkably, James Bond has never canonically had offspring in any of the previous 24 films set in two different 007 canons. Nor has James Bond ever actually died in any film before No Time To Die, which definitely concluded the story of Daniel Craig's 007 era. Among the many changes Craig's Bond movies made to the franchise, Mathilde may be the most revolutionary idea and she is an important final result and reflection of Daniel Craig's incredible success as James Bond. Because both Madeleine and James have light hair, along with James' blue eyes, these attributes help define their daughter, Mathilde.
And Madeleine herself is also a rebuke to the great loves of James Bond's lives, Tracy Bond (Diana Rigg), who briefly became George Lazenby's 007's wife, and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), Craig's Bond's great love he finally said farewell to in No Time To Die. Both Tracy and Vesper were brunettes but Madeleine Swann emerged as the most successful Bond Girl of Daniel Craig's era by virtue of surviving James Bond and being the mother of his child and true legacy. Daniel Craig's James Bond broke the mold and rewrote the book on 007 and the vitriol that met his 2005 casting proved to be stupid. It was ingenious how No Time To Die used Craig's blue eyes to nod at the shortsightedness of his critics by making blue eyes one of James' daughter's defining physical traits.