‘Such a Feminist’ Says Only Men Can Play James Bond

“I’m such a feminist, but you can’t have a woman," Helen Mirren recently declared. "It just doesn’t work."

By Ria Gupta  |  August 21, 2025 | 10:38am
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‘Such a Feminist’ Says Only Men Can Play James Bond

The debate over who should be the next James Bond is probably the most nothing-burger conversation in entertainment right now. Ever since Daniel Craig’s departure after the 2021 film No Time to Die, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson, and Tom Holland have all been up for consideration, but an actor (or actress!) has yet to be named. But that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from declaring that Bond, under no circumstances, absolutely cannot be a woman.

“I’m such a feminist, but you can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work,” Helen Mirren recently told Saga Magazine, despite having zero ties to the series. “James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.” Insert eye-roll here.

I understand I also have no ties to the series, but if you ask me, aside from a few of Bond’s catchphrases, the 007 nickname, and James being a name more culturally associated with men (unless you’re Blake Lively’s kid), there’s nothing inherently male about Bond that a woman couldn’t successfully portray. I’d expect “such a feminist” to have a little bit more of an imagination, at the very least.

But Mirren wasn’t the only one telling Saga Magazine that Bond has to be a guy. Pierce Brosnan—himself a former James Bond—weighed in as well, as the two are doing press for their upcoming Netflix film, The Thursday Murder Club. “I’m so excited to see the next man come on the stage and to see a whole new exuberance and life for this character…,” Brosnan said. “I adore the world of James Bond.” The next man. Insert even bigger eye-roll.

At the Cannes Film Festival in May, former Bond girl Halle Berry also agreed that we shouldn’t dare think of Bond as a woman. “In 2025, it’s nice to say, ‘Oh, she should be a woman,'” Berry told a press conference. “But, I don’t really know if I think that’s the right thing to do.” OK!

But truly…why not? What is so special about James Bond?

Bond, who was created by novelist Ian Fleming in 1953, is a handsome British secret agent with excellent marksmanship and only kills when ordered to. Good for him! But it’s nothing that Keira Knightley didn’t already do in Black Doves.

Maybe Bond was iconic in the post-WWII period, when media about spies skyrocketed into popularity, and women were less likely to be spies. But now, in 2025, the idea of a charming male secret agent who knows how to shoot a gun seems about as riveting as a Colleen Hoover novel: overdone, behind the times, and rife with tropes.

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