007 to be black and female??? Yes it’s the kind of click-bait news designed to cause much gnashing of teeth and angst among the die-hard party-faithful who haven’t actually read the important specific detail beyond that headline…
For several years there’s been talk about the next Bond being black (with candidates such as Idris Elba in the running) and some errant tweets about James Bond becoming Jane Bond in a gender-swap for the franchise. The former has been seen as more and more likely, the latter seems silly given the fact that there are now plenty of sisters doing for themselves. But in news that has quickly spread across the internet it does appear that the role of 007 will indeed be played by Lashana Lynch (most recently seen as Brie Larson/Carol Danvers’ co-pilot in Captain Marvel) when Bond 23 (still not given an official name as yet) debuts in cinemas next year.
But before anyone launches into a predictable rant about how James Bond should always be a man and how come the likes of Thor, Doctor Who etc are being ‘usurped’ by the fairer gender etc etc etc…. annnnnnnd breathe…. it looks as if Lynch’s role is actually as an agent that takes over the famous ‘license to kill’ 00 designation because James Bond has retired from active service at the start of the next story. No, she is not ‘Jane Bond’ and the franchise isn’t going to get switched to her perspective. Indeed, if the sparse details we hear from the report are true, it’s essentially a punchline near the start of the movie when ‘M’ calls in ‘007’ and… shock… it’s not James. However Daniel Craig’s Bond will be the centre of attention, forced back into the world of espionage and reliably seems likely to put the moves on his ‘replacement’ – which she apparently and arguably wisely, rebuffs. Though we know very little on story-specifics, we do also know that Christoph Waltz will be reprising his role as the villainous Blofeld.
It’s a very different matter for more overt fantasy characters with a historical male identity to get the female makeover and no-one is suggesting that James Bond’s place is truly being usurped. Anyone not putting money on James Bond’s return to active service and the reclaiming of his 00 status by movie’s end, may be somewhat poorer after release. However Bond 25 will be – or it seems likely at this point to be – Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond, which is why the tabloid-y headlines have gathered more traction than before.
Who his real replacement will be is still a long way off…
