He may take his martinis shaken, not stirred, but 007 shakes up a bit more than just his cocktails. Daniel Craig prepares to step back from the role of James Bond as No Time to Die (2021) looms around the corner, and with his leave, comments on the idea of a woman taking on the titular agent role.
In conversation with Radio Times, Craig presented his position that he believes that women of color could land better roles outside of being James Bond. It was previously confirmed that Lashana Lynch will play the first Black 007, and Craig asked the question as to why there aren't roles such as 007 readily available for actresses such as Lynch.
"The answer to that is very simple," the Bond actor clarified. "There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, for a woman?" Long-running James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli pitched in her own contribution to the conversation, clearly defining that 007 is a male character.
"He can be of any color, but he is male," the producer stated. "I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I'm not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that."
Broccoli has made similar confirmations around the canonical gender identity of James Bond in 2018 while speaking to The Guardian. "Bond is male," Broccoli said. "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."
The James Bond producer added on to her standing, saying "look at the way the world has changed," Broccoli said. "...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."
Lynch is still lined up to become the next 007 despite what the film series producer has claimed, but it's established that she won't take the namesake of James Bond. Instead, she'll introduce a new character to the series, Nomi. Trailers solidify her position as a Double-0 agent, opening up a new chapter for the famed espionage franchise. No Time to Die concludes Craig's time as James Bond on October 8, 2021.