There’s been a lot of speculation as to who’ll succeed Daniel Craig as James Bond when he gives up his license to kill after 2020’s Bond 25, but it seems we can rule out the spy series going down the Doctor Who route, as producer Barbara Broccoli has dismissed the possibility of a gender-switch for 007.
Speaking to The Guardian, Eon Productions chief Broccoli was asked about whether we could see a female version of Ian Fleming’s super spy, with the producer responding that:
“Bond is male. He’s a male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male. And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women. Let’s just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters.”
Broccoli went on to state that she believes the Bond franchise has moved with the times with regards to its representation of women, adding that:
“It was written in the 50s, so there’s certain things in [Bond’s] DNA that are probably not gonna change. But look at the way the world has changed. And I think Bond has come through and transformed with the times. I’ve tried to do my part, and I think particularly with the Daniel Craig films, they’ve become much more current in terms of the way women are viewed.”
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The Bond franchise has toyed with the idea of a female spinoff in the past – there was talk of a movie centred around the character of Jinx, played by Halle Berry in Die Another Day, although those plans never materialised. And of course, it would be easy enough to introduce a new female 00 agent into a future Bond movie, should Eon decide to test the water for a possible female-led feature.
