Producer Barbara Broccoli says James Bond will have to be reinvented for our modern world but the work hasn’t started yet.
The name’s Broccoli. Barbara Broccoli. And when it comes to news about James Bond, she’s the one you want to be listening to. As the daughter of Albert R. Broccoli and someone who first entered the Bond universe with 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me before taking over the franchise (along with half-brother Michael G. Wilson) after his death, Barbara Broccoli knows the franchise better than anyone else. No, we don’t have news on who the next 007 will be, but the co-head of the series does know he’ll need some major reinvention to keep up with modern audiences.
Speaking with The Guardian, Barbara Broccoli suggested it’s important to be aware of audience expectations but to know they may be way off. Citing the first movie she served as producer, she said, “I go back to GoldenEye when everyone was saying ‘the cold war is over, the wall is over, Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world’s at peace and now there’s no villains’ – and boy was that wrong!” When it came to getting Daniel Craig on board as Pierce Brosnan’s successor, she recalled, “Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it. I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”
With Daniel Craig – who really brought Bond into the 21st century (sorry, Die Another Day…) – out as Bond, what does the secret agent look like in the post-No Time to Die world? What are his challenges? What has changed in our world since then that has to be addressed in the 26th entry? These are all questions that Barbara Broccoli and company have to wrestle with. As she has stated before, reinventing James Bond is an absolute essential for the franchise.
What do you think James Bond will be facing as he continues well into the 2020s and beyond? Do you expect the franchise to get even grittier? Give us your predictions in the comments section below.