Female James Bond on the horizon.

I thought there was a scene where he is given the name and number but as I say maybe I dreamed it.

No I just remember something that never happened. In fairness I zone out of Craig Bond movies quite easy.

My favourite thing would be for Bond to disappear for a while and come back someday as a real movie with no corporate crap but not gonna happen so as for who should play him I don't have a clue. Elba probably missed his chance, O'Connell would be too much like Craig and Hiddleston takes the posh thing to parody levels. Can't really think of a single British actor of any gender or colour who stands out

The word "woke" appears nine times in this thread (ten now, you're welcome).

Just a shame Bond is a white straight male.

He's great in Luther though, utterly compelling.

Is Elba gay ?

A straight white male who is about 90 years old. Funny that that part does not seem to bother you.

I don’t like these ideas of swapping out male characters for female characters. What is wrong with female characters having their own stories etc. Bond has been played a certain way until now a female would take it in a complete different direction and just wouldn’t be Bond. It’s so lazy and definitely seems like a lack of ideas.

Yep. All the who's the next Bond stuff is just marketing to paper over a tired series

All the Bonds were never big names, that's why it works. It never works when you pick a big star to play Bond, makes no sense, as you know him from else where.

Next Bond should be a great unknown, that way he makes it his own, like the great Bonds did.

I'd understand the outrage more if they made Bond American or something. Bond's skin colour is of little importance, his background/culture, style and charisma are the key qualities in the character.

Personally, I found this comment very interesting.

Does anyone think that there might be an element of something akin to vandalism going on here?

So, who really likes James Bond movies? Older, white, straight, guys who want to see lovely girls and cars and watches and explosions and gadgets. What could be worse, right? What an opportunity to wind those people up by taking something they like and turning it onto something they don't like.

Surely the movie industry would not operate like that but sometimes I do wonder. James Bond does seem to be the kind of thing that appeals to a very specific demographic and there does seem to be a kind of glee at the prospect of "taking their toys away" so I could really see it. Comments like the above at least confirm there is some eagerness to see this play out. Like we wouldn't necessarily want to go and watch a female Bond ourselves but, by God, wouldn't it be fun to see all the old Bond fans lose their minds?

Reflecting on it though that's kind of horrible. Oh, that thing you like? Hahahaha! Not any more!

I don't get your point. I wasn't saying that anyone or any group is or is not persecuted.

Yes, I would feel for people who really love James Bond movies if there is an active effort to ruin them for that audience. I don't care that much about it though outside of thinking that this "it's time to let someone else have a shot of the popular brand name" is an interesting aspect of modern entertainment.

Not sure what I am supposed to take from your response. I speculated that some people would be open to the idea of taking something that is liked by a specific demographic and ruining it because it's a bit of a laugh. You are pretty much confirming that but instead of just saying you agree you are trying to make it sound like I am moaning about the plight of old straight white guys. That's way off the mark.

I was playing off the comment from @Thelonious Monk more than anything, to be honest.

"Brilliant, it'll wind up the old men on this site to no end. Rabble Rabble rabble."

I didn't look into what kind of people actually like Bond movies or anything like that outside of assuming who they are targeted at and kind of agreeing with the other poster that "old men" is the target audience.

Either way, I think there seems to be a strong desire to change entertainment brands/franchises in a way that annoys the long-term fans and a pretty enthusiastic bunch of people who enjoy seeing that happen. I don't really know why.

I don't know how they can reinvent the brand when it carries so much baggage and I'm pretty sure that "it'll wind up all the right people" is not really a great starting point.

What the hell do I know, though? I have no idea how the marketing plans for these movies are drawn up and what kind of revenue makes a thing a success or failure. It does feel like a Lady Bond isn't necessarily going to have a brand new audience rushing out to the cinema. Maybe it would though.