# 007 will be played by a Black actress **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078 "2019-07-14T19:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/41 "2019-07-15T00:41:45Z")
I have no problem with this. In this day and age it’s foolish to think 007 can only be a white male. And I like the idea that the 00 designation can be handed down to other agents. Now if they were trying to set the movie back during the Cold War, it really wouldn’t make sense. To all the snowflakes who find this the worst thing to ever happen, just repeat to yourself, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/42 "2019-07-15T00:44:34Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Just looked her up thinking she was American for a hot second. > > Now THAT would be something to be outraged about. I thought Lynch was American until I read this thread. She did a really good job with the accent in _Captain Marvel_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/43 "2019-07-15T00:48:01Z")
**[Moderating]** OK, this thread needs some attention. First of all, **aceplace57** , if you’re so disinterested in the topic that you’re not willing to read beyond one headline, even when the information you’re missing was already posted in the thread before you, then you don’t need to be spreading your disinterest. Do not return to this thread. Second, to everyone else, if you have any issues with **aceplace57** , especially issues that stem from any thread other than this one, you need to take it to the Pit. Further discussion of **aceplace57** is likewise out of line in this thread. Violation of either of these directives will result in a Warning. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/44 "2019-07-15T00:48:15Z")
Just as long as they don’t make her a mermaid. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/45 "2019-07-15T01:00:39Z")
My apologies, I didn’t mean to derail the thread. James Bond films are a part of my childhood and my adult life. I care deeply about them. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/46 "2019-07-15T01:30:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > My apologies, I didn’t mean to derail the thread. > > James Bond films are a part of my childhood and my adult life. I care deeply about them. But this could be awesome, if done right. She won’t be Bond, but she could still be a great character in great movies. It’s okay to pass the torch, and it’s okay if the torch sometimes passes to a black woman. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/47 "2019-07-15T01:32:27Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > …Thoughts? Meh. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/48 "2019-07-15T01:38:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > But this could be awesome, if done right. She won’t be Bond, but she could still be a great character in great movies. It’s okay to pass the torch, and it’s okay if the torch sometimes passes to a black woman. Maybe so. Let’s see how it goes. I’ve seen every Bond premier in a theater since Live and Let Die. I saw the earlier ones on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/49 "2019-07-15T01:39:15Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The movie audiences whose attendance made action-film stars out of Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, and Li Bingbing? Nah, they’ll never watch it. Are they black? I’m familiar with the first two—Yeoh was the best part of Tomorrow Never Dies—would have to look up Ms. Bingbing. How did _Black Panther_ do financially in East Asia? Have Chinese audiences previously been open to watching a black female action lead. I genuinely don’t know. Or are we in the post-‘caring about whether a proposed project tests well’ stage of reeducation? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/50 "2019-07-15T01:41:07Z")
I was hoping for a Mexican James Bond ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/51 "2019-07-15T01:43:57Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > …but she could still be a great character in great movies… I completely agree with you. Hollywood, go write some. Make the next John Wick-type action fantasy a setting where this actress of color can go kick ass and entertain billions. Instead of bastardizing a popular series and character to pander to someone’s idea of social retributive justice. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/52 "2019-07-15T01:48:00Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > But this could be awesome, if done right. She won’t be Bond, but she could still be a great character in great movies. It’s okay to pass the torch, and it’s okay if the torch sometimes passes to a black woman. It seems unlikely to me that this new 007 will “carry the torch” in future films and take over the role of being the film series’ new hero, replacing James Bond. I think it much more likely that this will be the last of the Daniel Craig Bond movies, and then there’ll be a reboot/new [del]Doctor Who[/del] James Bond incarnation. That would mean the 007 position would need to be vacant for the “new” Bond. Ergo, the 007 character in this movie will be killed during the course of the movie, so there’ll be a blank slate again for the next guy (probably). ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/53 "2019-07-15T01:53:29Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Get woke. Go broke. Because Star Wars and Ghostbusters did so well… …the only Star Wars movie to be considered a flop was Solo, where the protaganist was decidedly a straight white guy. And Ghostbusters didn’t fail because it had a female cast, but because it wasn’t a good movie. Captain Marvel and Black Panther “went woke” and didn’t “go broke.” They “went woke and made billions.” Just like The Last Jedi did. > [@](#): > > If the producers are going to pander to current whims, they could have at least picked an **attractive actress**. Wow. I know that standards of beauty are subjective, but this sentence you wrote is about the ugliest thing I’ve read all day. And I read Trump’s latest tweets just a few minutes ago. > [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m not the only one that will be switching off. > > Doctor Who’s ratings have dropped to an all time low since it was restarted in 2005. > ['Doctor Who' Festive Special Hits 13-Year Ratings Low for BBC](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/doctor-who-festive-special-hits-13-year-ratings-low-bbc-1172109) > > The Bond movie franchise better tread carefully. > [@](#): > > In fact, according to Vulture, **Whittaker’s first season in the role of the Thirteenth Doctor has garnered more American viewers** than those of former Time Lords Matt Smith, David Tennant, and Christopher Eccleston. > > As Vulture’s Josef Adalian notes, Whittaker’s success in comparison to some of her predecessors is particularly impressive given that television ratings across the board have been trending downward for years. The season’s first eight episodes averaged 1.6 million viewers on BBC America (counting delayed viewing and on-demand replays)—a 20 percent jump from Peter Capaldi’s final season as the Doctor, which doubled as the last season for longtime Who executive producers Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. > **[Doctor Who Saw a Huge Ratings Jump, Thanks to Jodie Whittaker](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/doctor-who-season-11-ratings-jodie-whittaker)** > > A move from Saturdays to Sundays probably didn’t hurt, either > [@](#): > > However, come ep five, the catchily-titled ‘The Tsuranga Conundrum’, we find there’s now 7.76m watching on television (consolidated). As you can see, this means that just under 3 million viewers have stopped keeping up to date with the adventures of the Gallifreyan (for the moment, at least). > > But let’s give this some context. > > A very similar thing – if not exactly the same – happened with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor in 2005: he kicked off with 10.91 million but saw viewership drop by 4 million during his run with Billie Piper’s Rose. > > And it’s the same story for Jodie’s other predecessors: both Tennant’s first and third series saw dips of around 3 million during their airings; over 3.5 million fell away for Matt Smith’s 2010 episodes (his opening year in the TARDIS); and Peter Capaldi witnessed a 2.5 million drop in his freshman year. > > … > > The most successful season was in 2008 with the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, hitting an average of 8.05m, while the “worst” was Peter Capaldi’s final run in 2017, with 5.45m. > > Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor has amassed a very impressive average of 8.55m so far (these figures come from the first half of series 11) – which means that this year is on target to be the biggest since Who’s return in 2005. > **[How's Doctor Who \*actually\* doing so far, ratings-wise?](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a870425/doctor-who-series-11-ratings-down-success-decline-jodie-whittaker/)** > > Clue: it's bigger on the inside. And the outside, in fact. I don’t think Doctor Who has anything to worry about. And if it did: then I would suggest to you that it might have absolutely nothing to do with a female Doctor at all: I found the weakest part of last season was Chris Chibnall and his writing, I much more enjoyed the episodes he didn’t write than the ones that he did. So if there has been a drop-off, then maybe you could consider the change of show-runner to be more significant than the change of actor? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/54 "2019-07-15T01:57:59Z")
Anyone else remember how in 2015 (just prior to the release of Spectre) Daniel Craig was hilariously emphatic that he’d [never do another Bond film](https://www.timeout.com/london/film/daniel-craig-interview-my-advice-to-the-next-james-bond-dont-be-shit)? “I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.” Guess he changed his mind. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/55 "2019-07-15T02:13:55Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > And I like the idea that the 00 designation can be handed down to other agents. In the books, there were (IIRC) three or four other agents with the 00 prefix besides Bond. I don’t see why a retiring agent’s number couldn’t be passed to a new agent, and obviously in this day and age there’s no reason to assume that a British Secret Service agent would have to be white or male. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/56 "2019-07-15T02:18:17Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Guess he changed his mind. _Never Say Never Again_ ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/57 "2019-07-15T02:20:45Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Maybe so. Let’s see how it goes. > > I’ve seen every Bond premier in a theater since Live and Let Die. I saw the earlier ones on TV. I’m about the same age as you because Live and Let Die was my first Bond movie and up until the second and later Brosnan films they were required viewing at the theater. When the older films were shown on TV, we were able to stay up a bit later to see them. Having a non white female take over the role does not mean deleting every previous incarnation. Part of me feels Bond should have never left the Cold War era and while I will watch the current movies if I’m in the mood for a Bond movie I’ll watch one of the older ones. Frankly, I have been bored with the most recent Bond movies and still haven’t seen Specter. Having a woman take the role might get me interested in it again because it would be something different. The main thing is that the movie is good. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/58 "2019-07-15T02:29:14Z")
I don’t care if a black woman plays 007 and/or James Bond so long as I don’t get told that I HAVE to like the movies and that if I don’t the reason is racism/misogyny. I, for the record, haven’t quite liked to last few 007 films so a change might do good. I also have no idea who the actress is, however, they should’ve picked a much better looking one. Looks have always been part of the character; maybe Maisie Richardson-Sellers or Camille Hyde? Freema Agyeman? (Idris Elba would’ve been great 10 or 15 years ago, he’s too old to play the role for any extended period of time) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/59 "2019-07-15T02:32:11Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > Having a non white female take over the role does not mean deleting every previous incarnation. Part of me feels Bond should have never left the Cold War era and while I will watch the current movies if I’m in the mood for a Bond movie I’ll watch one of the older ones. Really, if you wanted to update the Bond films to the present day, the Chinese government would be as likely to be the antagonists as the Russian government. It’s just that the movie studio wants to release the movie in China. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/60 "2019-07-15T02:46:26Z")
“Bond is having to learn to deal with the world of #metoo” 1. Didn’t Austin Powers do that 20+ years ago?? 2. Why would Bond give a flying fuck about that??? He SAVES THE WORLD. That’s why he has a licence to kill. Along with that comes a licence to fuck, drink and do anything he damn well pleases to…again…SAVE THE WORLD. 3. Why are the producers spoiling the GD movie? 4. Again…this was already sort of covered with Pierce Brosnan. I’ve only seen the first three Craig movies, and from what I recall, Bond is a broken alcoholic who doesn’t particularly fuck his way through the movies. He used that one woman he got killed in Casino (and felt the appropriate amount of guilt a broken aloholic who saves the world feels.) And of course was genuinely in love with Vesper. I predict this will feature an Abrams-level deconstruction of Craig/Bond and be an utter disaster that will be blamed on the Patriarchy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078.md?page=4)