Lashana Lynch will play a new Black lesbian 007 in No Time to Die, when it eventually comes out, reports claim
Lashana Lynch attends the UK Gala Screening of Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel. (Gareth Cattermole/Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney)
No Time to Die‘s new 007 will be a Black lesbian, actor Lashana Lynch confirmed on Friday (6 November) in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
Move over, James Bond, there’s a new special agent in town.
“I am one Black woman — if it were another Black woman cast in the role, it would have been the same conversation, she would have got the same attacks, the same abuse,” Lynch said.
“I just have to remind myself that the conversation is happening and that I’m a part of something that will be very, very revolutionary.”
The news has dropped amid the Hollywood rumour mill claiming that Bond, James Bond, will die at the end of the franchise’s 25th instalment – and Nomi, Lynch’s character, will be the one to kill him.
Nomi will allegedly be paired up with Bond in what will turn out to be his final assignment in the April 2021 film.
Lashana Lynch appears to have confirmed the new 007 will be a Black lesbian.
She described the role as a way to “challenge” the stereotypes ensnaring race and gender.
“We’re moving away from toxic masculinity, and that’s happening because women are being open, demanding and vocal, and calling out misbehaviour as soon as we see it,” she said.
In crafting her James Bond character, Lynch said, she collaborated with script-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge to ensure Nomi was not just a “too slick […] cast-iron figure”.
“I searched for at least one moment in the script where Black audience members would nod their heads, tutting at the reality but glad to see their real-life represented.
“In every project I am part of, no matter the budget or genre, the Black experience that I’m presenting needs to be 100 per cent authentic.”
As they often have nothing better to do, scores of white men hounded Lynch after finding out she will star in the film.
But Lynch said that she simply doesn’t care what they think.
“It doesn’t dishearten me,” she said in a 2019 interview.
“It makes me feel quite sad for some people because their opinions, they’re not even from a mean place — they’re actually from a sad place.
“It’s not about me. People are reacting to an idea, which has nothing to do with my life.”
