Helen Mirren has put her stance on the James Bond debate in no uncertain terms: the next 007 “has to be a guy.”
It’s a statement that immediately cuts through the noise because, while there’s been constant discourse over the years about whether Bond could, or should, be played by a woman, Mirren’s take is as blunt as it is unflinching. “I’m such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy. You can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work. James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else,” she told Saga Magazine.
This is not Mirren defaulting to tradition for tradition’s sake. The 80-year-old actress has long acknowledged the problematic origins of the character, previously describing Bond as “drenched and born out of profound sexism.” Yet, her point is that Bond, in his essence, is a male archetype, a fantasy construct rooted in a specific identity. Change that, and you don’t evolve Bond, you erase him. You create something else entirely.
Pierce Brosnan, himself once synonymous with the role, backed her completely. “Oh, I think it has to be a man,” he said, while expressing nothing but enthusiasm for whoever Amazon and MGM hand the keys to next. “I wish them well. I’m so excited to see the next man come on the stage and to see a whole new exuberance and life for this character. I adore the world of James Bond. It’s been very good to me. It’s the gift that keeps giving.”
This comes as Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight begins writing the next script, and the fact that both Mirren and Brosnan, icons in their own right, feel the need to stress Bond’s “maleness” reflects the tension at the heart of modern reboots. Reinvention is fashionable, expected even. But if reinvention severs the character from the core of what made him resonate, the result risks being unrecognisable.
Interestingly, Mirren herself plays a retired spy in The Thursday Murder Club, landing on Netflix this month. “So many women have worked in that world,” she said, pointing out the realism of her character compared to Bond. But even she concedes the difference: “More realistic. But not so much fun as Bond!”
It’s a strikingly honest acknowledgement. Women can and should be spies on screen, just not James Bond.
