Next James Bond Actor Will Likely Be A British Man Of Any Ethnicity Or Race, Producer Says

The recent James Bond movie No Time To Die was a big moment for the series, as it's the final installment to feature Daniel Craig in the lead role. Who will play the British super-spy next? We don't know, but series producer Barbara Broccoli has now said she believes the next Bond will be a British man of any ethnicity or race, but probably not a woman.

"I think it will be a man because I don't think a woman should play James Bond," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men's roles. I don't think there are enough great roles for women, and it's very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race]."

This lines up closely with what Craig himself has said about the future of the series. Craig said in an interview that he is not on board with the idea of a woman playing James Bond, but commented that women and people of color should get other roles of a similar stature.

"The answer to that is very simple," he told Radio Times. "There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?"

Broccoli doesn't want to talk much about the next James Bond actor right now because she wants to give people the ability to enjoy No Time To Die and for Craig to end his run without discussion about the next actor hanging over his head.

"People always ask, 'Oh, who's the next James Bond?' It's like asking a bride as she's going up to the altar who's her next husband going to be. I don't really want to think about who is going to be the next person until I absolutely have to," she said.

Also in THR's piece, Broccoli said she would "love" to work with No Time To Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga again, but she isn't sure if the director would be interested in coming back.

In addition to a new actor coming board to play James Bond in the inevitable next 007 movie, the expected 26th Bond movie will be made by Amazon, which recently acquired MGM. Broccoli said she's been told "things are not going to change" and that the next Bond movie will be an MGM film produced under the banner of Amazon. People are naturally wondering if Amazon might look to put the next Bond film on Amazon Prime Video, but whether or not that happens remains to be seen.

Outside of the films, Hitman developer IO Interactive is developing a new James Bond game that tells an origin story for the British spy.