James Bond is a man and that’s that. So says English actress Dame Helen Mirren. The self-described “feminist” made her assertion as controversy continues over just who will play the titular character in the next edition of the iconic decades-long series.
In an interview with Saga Magazine, the Oscar-winning actress said “you can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work. James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.”
Amazon MGM Studios will produce the next iteration of the spy franchise, with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight set to write what will become the 26th film in the series, the BBC reports.
The U.S. production and distribution company previously said it was planning a “fresh” take on franchise but would honour the “legacy” of the “iconic character” without outlining any further just what the casting and storyline will hold.
Dame Helen, 80, is currently starring opposite former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in the much anticipated film adaption of The Thursday Murder Club, in which she plays a retired spy.
Brosnan, 72, also told the magazine a male actor should continue to play Bond and he was excited to “see a whole new exuberance and life for this character.”
This is not the first time the sexuality of James Bond has been brought into the public domain with no shortage of doubters decrying the prospect of a female in the role.
Oscar-winning Halle Berry, who also starred in Die Another Day, expressed her own doubts at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
“I don’t know if 007 really should be a woman. I mean in 2025 it’s nice to say, ‘Oh, he should be a woman,’ but I don’t really know if I think that’s the right thing to do,” Berry said in response to a Variety reporter who asked if she would be open to ever playing role of James Bond.
There is no current release date for the next film.
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