Have Our Worst James Bond Fears Just Been Confirmed?

Who would be the subsequent James Bond?

It’s one of many most-asked questions within the Hollywood ecosystem, and plenty of information websites proclaim they’ve the within observe on the casting information.

It’s Tom Hardy!
No, Idris Elba is the odds-on favourite.
Wait, Tom Hiddleston is clearing his schedule for the gig.

They’re all improper, says veteran Bond producer Barbara Broccoli. And no person is aware of it higher than Broccoli, who controls the franchise’s future.

“Nobody’s in the running,” Broccoli confirmed throughout a London occasion honoring each Broccoli and her brother, Michael G. Wilson, for his or her BFI Fellowships. The Deadline unique lets Broccoli reveal the decision-making course of behind the franchise’s speedy future.

Everything she mentioned is awful information for 007 followers.

It will take two years earlier than the following Bond movie goes into manufacturing, she mentioned. That’s to be anticipated, for the reason that time between Bond movies has grown wider of late.

The pandemic made issues even worse.

Broccoli additionally shared the franchise’s subsequent steps in a means that will shake, and stir, longtime followers.

“We’re understanding the place to go along with him, we’re speaking that by. There isn’t a script and we will’t give you one till we resolve how we’re going to strategy the following movie as a result of, actually, it’s a reinvention of Bond. We’re reinventing who he’s and that takes time.

Bond has endured, nay thrived, over six many years as a result of it hasn’t drifted too removed from these early years. Yes, Bond isn’t swatting co-stars on the rump anymore, however that was however a microscopic a part of his character.

Bond retained his license to kill and machismo regardless of who donned his signature tuxedo. Lazenby. Moore. Dalton. Brosnan. Craig.

Each introduced one thing contemporary to the character with out reinventing him. Sure, the gadget-heavy ’70s gave solution to Craig’s throwback masculinity.

Bond, for essentially the most half, remained Bond.

That held true even with “No Time to Die,” the latest 007 outing. The press, and numerous performers tied to the movie, recommended a brand new, woke Bond. The movie itself, whereas an leisure romp crushed by a tepid third act, clung to the franchise’s fundamentals.

Is Broccoli suggesting the true finish of an period? It’s onerous to learn her feedback in every other style.

That suggests a Jane Bond, a kinder, gentler Bond or one thing much more distant from the character’s core beliefs.

And, if latest occasions are any indication, taking 007 in a woke course will imply shrinking audiences, and field workplace outcomes. “No Time to Die” under-performed on the U.S. field workplace, and it was woke in advertising and marketing solely.

What occurs when Bond begins combating for gender equality, not saving the globe? Longtime followers will look elsewhere for his or her thrills.