As published on Caderno B+

The “father” of James Bond, the English spy from MI6 who goes by the codename 007, is the writer Ian Flemming, who created the character inspired by his own experience working for British Intelligence. The cinema soon opened its eyes to bringing him to the big screen and in this dispute over rights, the Broccoli family became the “owners” of the brand due to a series of events involving the film adaptation of the novels. Fleming had no vision of what he created and so sold the rights to what immediately became a global phenomenon.

Over these more than six decades, some wanted to try something parallel (the failed film with Sean Connery, in 1983), and even create similar characters, but the “real” Bond was unbeatable.

Moving forward in time, MGM was the international distributor of the franchise and the studio was bought by Amazon Prime Video for over 6.5 billion dollars. The platform was already thinking about spin-offs, series, and other products exploring Bond’s popularity, but they ran into the “zealous” Barbara Broccoli, who had the final say on everything and the one she used most was “no”.

In December 2024, tensions went through the roof. The heated clashes included her decision to hold off on releasing the last film, No Time To Die, for two years so that it could be released in theaters (during the pandemic), which deeply angered Amazon’s owner, Jeff Bezos. Barbara, who refused to accept that the franchise was called “content” or that “risk calculation” studies were carried out to select the next 007 (taking the numbers into account), almost became a Blofeld (Bond’s enemy) in a skirt. It was unsustainable.

That’s why Bezos himself rubbed salt in the wound on February 20, when in the final negotiation, the platform took away artistic control from the Broccolis. The first question he posted on X? Who does the public want as James? An aggressive and direct provocation to Barbara who defended an unknown for the role.

This “license to kill” that Amazon MGM has been given is a double-edged sword. Over the years, no one can deny that Barbara has been extremely efficient in taking care of James Bond in a way that never wore him out and kept fans anticipating his adventures with the same passion for different generations.

Adapting 007 – a toxic and aggressive macho man in today’s context – is not an easy task and here was the problem with the new executives. On the other hand, I don’t know if I like what Disney did with Star Wars, I fear what Warner is about to do with Harry Potter and I definitely question how MAX has used George R. R. Martin‘s universe and I don’t like what Amazon did with The Lord of the Rings in Rings of Power. Not only can they now change the essence of James Bond (in his last film he was no longer 007 and the role was held by a woman), but now we will have a series about his youth, spin-offs of other characters and all of this could pollute more than it adds to the brand. James is James, we should leave it at that…

Having said all that, the resolution of the impasse means that the fast is closer to an end. It has been three years since we saw No Time To Die, in which we not only said goodbye to Daniel Craig but also witnessed Bond being killed in an explosion, at best the next film would hit theaters in 2027: almost a decade after they filmed No Time To Die. It is more than time, isn’t it?

So if until now the betting pools on the names of young British actors have proliferated every year, we will finally be able to take them more seriously. Bezos’ post signals that they will seek early approval from the public, and the two strongest names at the moment are Josh O’Connor (the eternally young Charles in The Crown) and Harry Dickinson (in Babygirl).

Whether the change in control of James Bond represents a new breath of life or a risk for the franchise, only time will tell. History has already proven that 007 is a resilient icon, but the way Amazon MGM handles this new era could define whether Bond will remain relevant without losing his essence or whether he will be diluted in a wave of excessive productions disconnected from his legacy. The enthusiasm of the bets on the next actor in the role shows that the public still cares—but will the new people in charge of cinema’s most famous secret agent know how to respect that loyalty? I hope so, because, at the end of the day, James Bond always comes back. The question is whether he will come back in the right way.

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