10 female actors would be perfect as the next James Bond
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Credit: Press/Far Out
Hear Me Out: Paapa Essiedu would make for an excellent James Bond
By and large, the James Bond franchise has not changed for over 60 years, with each installment in the series showing Great Britain’s greatest spy donning a smart suit, hopping into an Aston Martin and ordering a martini (shaken, not stirred). This all changed with the release of No Time to Die in 2021, where, ironically, Bond found the time to lay down his Walther PPK and finally die after 25 death-defying movies.
The death of 007 represents a significant statement of intent from franchise producer Barbara Broccoli and the James Bond crew, levelling the identity of the current character, and in many ways, the decades of history that has preceded. As the after-credits titles read ‘James Bond will return’, though the form in which the character may return could very well be far different from what the series has become used to.
Indeed, with the series having long relied on empty iconography to carry fandom from film to film, it would be nice for the death of Bond in No Time to Die also to trigger the end of the Aston Martin DB5, the endless martini gags and the entire concept of the ‘Bond girl’. Never has there been a better time to refit 007 with a brand new suit, car, and modern bunch of ideals than the reality Broccoli has created for the franchise.
As well as a new change of tone and of narrative structure, the divisive conversation of the next James Bond actor is the hottest topic on the lips of every 007 fan. Though a female Bond has long been teased by the production company, Broccoli recently quashed such rumours, with the team behind the forthcoming movies dropping a slight hint recently when a report stated, “The Bond producers are looking for a younger Bond…Someone probably in their 30s”.
The revelation of such news removes the likes of previous frontrunners Tom Hardy, Idris Elba and Henry Cavill from the conversation, making room for a whole possibility of unnamed potential actors. Rarely discussed in the conversation, I’d like to toss Paapa Essiedu’s hat into the ring, an actor who has proved that, after a dynamic range of roles, he is ready to take on one of cinema’s most iconic characters.
Essiedu is not just a name plucked out from the milieu of young British actors either, with the 32-year-old being a pertinent name in contemporary British entertainment, making a name for himself first and foremost on the theatre stage. Appearing as the title character in Royal Shakespeare Company’s: Hamlet as well as taking the role of Edmund in King Lear, Essiedu would win an Ian Charleson Award in 2016 for his contribution to the stage.
He would follow this success up with roles in Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, Alex Garland’s Men and the crime drama Gangs of London in which he effectively plays a more devious version of 007 himself, busying himself with the grim side of mafia business in the British capital. Delivering absorbing performances in each aforementioned series and film, Essiedu would be the perfect choice to command a new type of Bond, having shown his skills for action in Gangs of London and his dramatic proficiency in Coel’s BAFTA-award-winning series.
With the potential to become the first black actor to play the iconic British character, casting Essiedu in the role of James Bond would be an inspiring call to make, establishing a genuine statement of intent for a franchise revolution. Whilst it is endlessly fun to ponder who the next actor might be, the reality is that we may not know an answer until 2024, with the debate destined to rage until Broccoli announces the fateful spy.
