# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/81 "2019-07-15T10:09:02Z")
Mitchell and Webb are [not fans of James Bond](http://www.007museum.com/Barry-Nelson.htm). > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Just looked her up thinking she was American for a hot second. > > Now THAT would be something to be outraged about. The ghost of [Barry Nelson](http://www.007museum.com/Barry-Nelson.htm) would like a word. > [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …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. Frankly I’ll take _Solo_ and _Rogue One_ over the tedious _The Force Awakens_ and _The Last Jedi_ any day. And I agree about the female-cast _Ghostbusters_: the cast were fine, but the script was awful. By the time they shoehorned in cameos from the original cast, the name, the logo, the car, the catchphrase, the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man and Slimer, they’d used up about half the runtime of the film. I wouldn’t mind a sequel as long as it’s a new story and not a Zuul rehash. > [@Cumberdale](#): > > 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. Yeah, frankly I’m at the point where the franchise is just so fundamentally tapped out that something fresh and new - particularly when a talented writer is involved - is worth trying. PW-B can’t “ruin” the Bond franchise; it’s already about as interesting as a pile of day-old dogshit. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/82 "2019-07-15T10:15:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Mitchell and Webb are [not fans of James Bond](http://www.007museum.com/Barry-Nelson.htm). You put the Barry Nelson link twice. I think you mean [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIfSQW499Xc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIfSQW499Xc) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/83 "2019-07-15T10:36:29Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > _“Um- hey- hey! If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like… um… uh… a martini vodka. And I need it to be shaken, but- You, hey, are you listening? I lost him. I lost another waiter. Oh, boy, this is going to be one of those nights, I can feel it. Great, and now I’m having acid reflux. Ugh. Hey. Hey! Excuse me! Excuse me! I need an Omeprazole! Hello? Nobody’s listening. Ooooh. I’m going home. I’m sure 006 can take care of that Blofeld fella.”_ Funniest thing I’ve read in weeks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/84 "2019-07-15T10:48:15Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > You put the Barry Nelson link twice. > > I think you mean [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIfSQW499Xc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIfSQW499Xc) Oops - mea culpa. Yes, that’s the link I meant to post. Ta muchly. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/85 "2019-07-15T12:46:42Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > …I do feel like Bond should be a male character just given that the character (as it has come to be in film) is intended to be a chauvinist pig… This is kind of where I stand. I’m not a huge fan of Bond movies, and that’s part of why not. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Storm in a teacup. We all know Bond will revert to being 007 at the end of the movie… I bet you are right. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/86 "2019-07-15T13:00:35Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > **007** will be played by a black actress, not James Bond. James retired at the end of Spectre, so the code was given to someone else. We’ve seen other double 0’s before. Quantity vs. quality. This simple post totally clarifies the situation. ---
**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, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/87 "2019-07-15T14:01:36Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I disagree completely with that assessment of M, and we can bet on the end of the next Bond film if you’d like 😕 What do you disagree about in the “assessment” of M? That the female M died in _Skyfall_ and was succeeded by a male character in the role of M? Those are definite in-universe facts, AFAICT. Or that there was arguably a tone of retro triumphalism in the eventual return to a more familiar male-dominated Bond-film structure, with former field agent Eve becoming M’s executive secretary Moneypenny, and the movie ending on Bond’s line where he calls the new M “Sir”? Yeah, I still think that interpretation holds up. As for betting, I think you may have misread my “wouldn’t be at all surprised if” as “willing to bet that” **GuanoLad** ’s confident prediction about James Bond becoming 007 again turns out to be true. But I’m curious: how do **you** think the new movie’s going to end? Will the new 007 survive and retain 007 status? And will that lead to future “Bond movies” (really “007 movies” now, I guess) with her as the protagonist? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/88 "2019-07-15T14:35:08Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’ll see just about any 007 movie, and thought Lynch was good in a supporting role in _Captain Marvel,_ so I’m willing to give her a shot. Oh, her? Hmm. I have to say, That’s the only thing that bothers me about this whole thing - I really thought she was the weakest link in that film’s generally strong cast. She had no real personality as a character, and even worse, she didn’t have any chemistry with Brie Larson. I hope she does a better job as 007. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/89 "2019-07-15T15:05:38Z")
Is this one going to actually be the last Craig as Bond movie you think? Assuming so, do they just reset Bond again, starting with the character young again, if not at the start somewhere in the middle? How many times will fans keeping coming back to franchise restarts do you think? ---
**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, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/90 "2019-07-15T15:09:51Z")
I always thought it would be interesting to do a Bond origin story movie, showing him as a teenager at Eton and then university, and eventually being recruited by British intelligence. Sort of like the Young Sherlock Holmes film from 1985. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/91 "2019-07-15T15:13:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I always thought it would be interesting to do a Bond origin story movie, showing him as a teenager at Eton and then university, and eventually being recruited by British intelligence. Sort of like the Young Sherlock Holmes film from 1985. Honestly, I’ve always wanted a post WWII period Bond movie. More in sync with the Ian Fleming books (or even more realistic, since Fleming wasn’t above Pulp-ish moments like villains leaving Bond in deadly traps for no reason) I even have the perfect actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, fairly similar in age and looks with OG Bond. Maybe Tom Hiddleston. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/92 "2019-07-15T15:17:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > 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. Somebody needs to get the rights to the John Gardner novel Icebreaker. Neo-Nazis hiding in Finland. ---
**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, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/93 "2019-07-15T15:18:18Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 What do you disagree about in the “assessment” of M? That the female M died in _Skyfall_ and was succeeded by a male character in the role of M? Those are definite in-universe facts, AFAICT. > > Or that there was arguably a tone of retro triumphalism in the eventual return to a more familiar male-dominated Bond-film structure, with former field agent Eve becoming M’s executive secretary Moneypenny, and the movie ending on Bond’s line where he calls the new M “Sir”? Yeah, I still think that interpretation holds up. > > As for betting, I think you may have misread my “wouldn’t be at all surprised if” as “willing to bet that” **GuanoLad** ’s confident prediction about James Bond becoming 007 again turns out to be true. But I’m curious: how do **you** think the new movie’s going to end? Will the new 007 survive and retain 007 status? And will that lead to future “Bond movies” (really “007 movies” now, I guess) with her as the protagonist? But…why wouldn’t he call M, ‘sir’? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/94 "2019-07-15T15:22:51Z")
You know, the intent of casting Halle Berry as “Jinx” in _Die Another Day_ was to set up a platform for a spinoff with a black female James Bondian character. I still think she’d be good at it.: > [@](#): > > Speculation arose in 2003 of a spin-off film concentrating on Jinx, which was scheduled for a November/December 2004 release. It was originally reported that MGM was keen to set up a film series that would be a “winter olympics” alternative to the main series. In the late 1990s, MGM had originally considered developing a spin-off film based on Michelle Yeoh’s character, Wai Lin, in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies. However, despite much speculation of an imminent movie, on 26 October 2003, Variety reported that MGM had completely pulled the plug on this project, to the dismay of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions, who were reported to be “clearly furious” about the decision.[42] MGM was keen to instead move on with the next film, Casino Royale.[43] > **[Die Another Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Another_Day)** > > Die Another Day is a 2002 spy film and the twentieth film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It was directed by Lee Tamahori, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. The fourth and final film starring Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, it was also the only film to feature John Cleese as Q, and the last with Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny. It is also the first film since Live and Let Die (1973) not ... ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/95 "2019-07-15T15:32:20Z")
I’ll be there, as usual, watching the movie. And chances are, I’ll be disappointed. Again. The best “Bond movies” are called Mission Impossible these days. ---
**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, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/96 "2019-07-15T16:03:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Alessan** : > > Oh, her? Hmm. > > I have to say, That’s the only thing that bothers me about this whole thing - I really thought she was the weakest link in that film’s generally strong cast. She had no real personality as a character, and even worse, she didn’t have any chemistry with Brie Larson. I hope she does a better job as 007. Come to think of it, when I think of her scenes in _Captain Marvel_, what mostly comes to mind is Carol Danvers interacting with Monica Rambeaux (the kid), with Maria somewhere in the background. I can’t say she did a _bad_ job, but she certainly wasn’t headlining. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/97 "2019-07-15T16:12:26Z")
> [@pool](#): > > I was hoping for a Mexican James Bond I confess I immediately thought al **bond** igas, Spanish for meatballs. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/98 "2019-07-15T17:19:51Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Storm in a teacup. We all know Bond will revert to being 007 at the end of the movie. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens before the opening credits. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/99 "2019-07-15T17:25:14Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens before the opening credits. Yep, this has got pre-credit sequence written all over it. It’s a fine piece of PR work if so… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078/100 "2019-07-15T18:43:45Z")
By the time the movie hits the rental market, home users will likely be able to DeepFake her out with a young Sean Connery. Hopefully someone will make a version leaving all of Craig’s flirting intact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/007-will-be-played-by-a-black-actress/837078.md?page=6)