The Queen herself Helen Mirren has weighed in on whether we need a female James Bond – and her take may shock you. Regardless of speculation that the next 007 could be a woman – with pitches for the secret agent role ranging from Jodie Comer to Lashana Lynch to Sydney Sweeney – Mirren has definitively stated that a woman filling Bond's shoes following Daniel Craig's exit “doesn't work”.
“I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy,” she said in a recent interview. "You can’t have a woman. It just doesn't work… James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else."
Mirren, who plays a retired spy in Netflix's upcoming TV series The Thursday Murder Club, described her performance as “more realistic” than Bond “but not so much fun”.
The series plotline has been described as "every parent's worst nightmare".
Although I have spent much of my career advocating for female empowerment and gender equality in Hollywood, and the importance of this kind of on-screen representation to all generations and groups – I have to say I agree with Helen Mirren.
My stance on this strengthened when I watched Keeley Hawes in The Assassin over the weekend. The It's A Sin and Bodyguard star plays hitwoman Julie, who is portrayed with a perfect balance of bitterness and sarcastic humour by Hawes. She's right in the midst of the action, quipping about menopause medication when she's not sniping all the baddies in sight with considerable flair and wit.
The plot of The Assassin may be on the wild side when it comes to a thriller's believability or cohesiveness, but Hawes herself is a flawless, hilarious action heroine.
Which brings us to Hostage, which drops on Netflix this week. Once again, we have women in the throes of the (this time political) action, with Suranne Jones playing the British Prime Minister – who must grapple with her familial and career expectations when her husband Alex is abducted. To add to the drama, visiting French president Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy) has the authority to help rescue Alex, but is blackmailed with a scandalous secret of her own to convince her to step aside. Cue the political game playing, not to mention some serious action sequences and double crosses.
Both The Assassin and Hostage – action thrillers in their own right – also honour the impact of motherhood on the identity of these powerful women. We see Hawes' Julie navigate a seriously strained relationship with her estranged son Edward, who is visiting her in retirement on a remote Greek island, while Jones' Abigail must face her daughter's wrath when she doesn't immediately step down from office to capitulate to her husband's kidnapper's demands and save his life. Both characters face the “cold and unfeeling” stereotype thrown at women in positions of power and action, one that isn't applied to men in the same way.
Catherine Zeta Jones is also set to play a former cocaine kingpin (turned art dealer) in upcoming Amazon TV series Kill Jackie, who must deal with past foes who have returned to murder her. Add in Slow Horses star Kristin Scott Thomas' cracking performance as deputy director general of MI5 Diana Taverner and the exciting announcement of a BBC Killing Eve prequel TV series Honey, telling the origin story of Fiona Shaw's twisted-yet-hilarious character Carolyn Martens, and we have ample proof that there's plenty of appetite and creative space for women to have their own action hero, spy or political TV stories. Relying on making a mark on an already male-dominated franchise instead of striking out with different on-screen characters and plots feels too much like playing a man's game to me.
The conversation around the possibility of a female Bond is not a new one, to be fair. In 2021's No Time To Die, Lashana Lynch took on the mantel of a 00 agent, but did not play the character of Bond. Despite the fact that the new incoming Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service IRL – Blaise Metreweli – may be a woman, though, over the years previous Bond executive producer Barbara Broccoli has long ruled out a possibility of a gender reinvention for the iconic character.
Since the Broccoli family ceased creative control, though, the takeover of the Bond franchise by Amazon MGM Studios has caused speculation around the a female 007 to start up again, with rumours also swirling about a Miss Moneypenny prequel starring none other than Florence Pugh.
Having watched Hawes and Jones helm these recent thrillers so well, in positions of power and action, I hope that new stories and fresh female-fronted takes on the action genre are prioritised over Hollywood asking women to fit inside a world that is already pretty misogynistic. For instance, the whole concept of a “Bond girl” – even with recent attempts at 21st century modifications – functioning as a “sexy love interest” above any meaningful characterisation is outdated, and talented female actors deserve more than to participate in a tired old secret agent meets femme fatale trope. Whatever role they might be playing.
Seeing women in the throes of the action, or behind the door of 10 Downing Street – with their own, unique, fleshed-out characters – instead of vying for the role of a female James Bond, is much more valuable than asking them to participate in a franchise that has never primarily been about serving them and their perspectives.
