The recent April Fool’s joke claiming that Jesse Buckley (Hamnet, 2025) had been cast as James Bond has reignited discussion about a female taking on the role. While the report was a prank, the conversation around a female Bond has gained renewed attention.
Talk of a female Bond is nothing new, though it remains controversial. Daniel Craig, his No Time to Die (2021) co-star Ana de Armas, and longtime producer Barbara Broccoli have all publicly opposed changing the character’s gender. Still, in-universe examples exist: Lashana Lynch’s Nomi temporarily assumed the 007 designation in the 2021 film, and Kim Sherwood’s Double O novels feature the female equivalent, Johanna Harwood, AKA 003.
While male potentials for the next James Bond include Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Jacob Elordi (Wuthering Heights), and Callum Turner (Eternity), megastar Sydney Sweeney has now emerged as a contender.
Sweeney, known for The Handmaid’s Tale (2017) and Euphoria (2019), and films like Madame Web (2024) and Immaculate (2024), has said she’d rather play Bond than a Bond girl. “Depends on the script,” she told Variety last year, “I think I’d have more fun as James Bond.”
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Now, director Paul Feig, who helmed Sweeney's latest film, The Housemaid (2026), has told The Sun, “There have been some cool Bond girls, but come on, let her [Sydney Sweeney] be the super-spy, she’s great. She’s one of the hardest-working people I know, so professional, so smart, so savvy. I think she’d be a good spy.”
Amazon MGM Studios is actively developing a new James Bond film reboot with Denis Villeneuve directing and Peaky Blinders (2013) writer Steven Knight on script duties, though the studio has not announced who will play the next 007 or a release date.
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