As the announcement of the new face of the James Bond franchise nears, one original star is speaking her peace on who should end up taking on the iconic role: Halle Berry. And folks online are actually siding with her on this one. We’ll explain.
As you know, Daniel Craig finished his tenure as James Bond with his final film, “No Time to Die” back in 2021. Since then there’s been overwhelming amounts of speculation as to who would take up the mantle in the forthcoming new iteration. To be clear, names like Idris Elba, Henry Cavill, Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Theo James, Aaron Pierre and Rege-Jean Page have all floated around, just to give you an idea.
But for Berry — who starred in the 2002 Bond film “Die Another Day” and recently spoke on the topic during a jury press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday — she’s convinced of one thing: Bond should not be a woman.
“I don’t know if 007 really should be a woman. I mean, you know 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,” she said per Variety.
Naturally, once her comments made its way to the internet, folks on social media were surprisingly on Berry’s side with many feeling that it would be wrong to “gender swap” such an iconic role that has a distinct lore and history. Others felt that if people wanted to see a female Bond, then they’d be better off rooting for an all new spy franchise with a woman lead.
“Halle Berry absolutely understands the performative nature of online rhetoric. It is not the right thing to do and never will be. Bond’s male experience, his death wish, nihilism, and what he represents historically are central to his character,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“How about an original female spy not based on previously established male concepts? Is that such a weird ask? Can we please think bigger?” another user questioned.
Added another, “Wow. Halle Berry is absolutely right. Swapping the identity of characters without regard for the archetype they tap into or the mythology they are steeped in is bad writing. Maybe the tide is changing.”
Over on Instagram, similar sentiments were expressed.
“Love [this] even more because it was said by a great woman. The character was created to be a man. That doesn’t mean a woman cannot do it because we can but create a new character,” wrote one user.