Daniel Craig will soon be making his farewell to James Bond. No Time To Die, the franchise’s latest film, will be his last playing the famous spy.
With Craig’s impending exit the next question is: Who’s next? Who will be the next person to take on the 007 mantle?
James Bond Will Always Be Male
Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the longtime producers of the James Bond franchise, sat down for an interview with Variety and have raised a few eyebrows with their thoughts on Bond’s race and gender.
“He can be of any color, but he is male,” says producer Barbara Broccoli.
Headlines being what they are, Broccoli’s feelings on the matter are a bit more nuanced than what’s been implied. She elaborated with, “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.”
But He Can Be Any Color
Lost in the shuffle of provocative headlines is the revelation that Broccoli and Wilson are open to casting an actor of color for the role. “You think of [Bond] as being from Britain or the Commonwealth, but Britain is a very diverse place,” Wilson says.
This bodes well for fan-favorites Idris Elba and Henry Golding who are two of the Internet’s favorite casting choices. It’s been long-noted that James Bond’s racial background has never been of much consequence to the character and so could be played by any British actor, no matter their skin tone.
And Wilson is correct. Britain is a very diverse place and there’s no reason why MI-6 couldn’t reflect that diversity.
007 Is A Family Business
Broccoli and Wilson are not just a producing team, they are family. Half-siblings, in fact. The entire Bond franchise has been managed by the Broccoli family through the family’s Eon Productions. Eon was founded by Broccoli’s late father, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, who also served as a producer on all Bond films until his death in 1996.
Bond is a family affair that the brother-sister producing team are very passionate about. “For better or worse, we are the custodians of this character,” says Broccoli. “We take that responsibility seriously.”
No Time To Die hits US theaters on April 8, 2020.
