Admittedly, the James Bond franchise is not for everyone, and even fans can see why. For as successfully as the legendary spy fiction character has navigated the modern world of fiction, the pedigree of Ian Fleming’s mythic creation does have some less fantastic elements. The 2025 movie schedule has seen the franchise looking towards the future, and while some might want to fan cast Helen Mirren as James Bond 26’s M, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath - as she’s not a fan.
Talking with The Standard about her new series MobLand, Dame Mirren addressed the recent 007 developments at Amazon-MGM Studios, and in that conversation came the following admission:
I have to say I was never a great ward [of Bond]. I’m a huge fan of Pierce Brosnan, I mean massive fan. I mean, oh my god. Obviously, he’s gorgeous and everything, and I think he’s fabulous in MobLand, but he also happens to be one of the nicest people you’ll ever have the pleasure to work with. And indeed Daniel Craig, who I’ve met and know a little bit. Again, a very lovely gracious person.
Playing the head of a drug trading mob outfit, with Brosnan as her husband, the Paramount+ subscription driver freshly premiered over the weekend. So of course, with the fifth man to have played James Bond in the mix, these feelings seemed primed to be revealed at one point or another.
Her reasons for not being turned off by the 007 legacy are facets that some may see as integral to the series DNA. With the next era of the character on the horizon, some people wonder if James Bond should be a harsher character, much as his literary origins dictate. In her further remarks of displeasure with 007, The Queen star provided that context as follows:
The whole series of James Bond, it was not my thing. It really wasn’t. I never liked James Bond. I never liked the way women were in James Bond. The whole concept of James Bond is drenched and born out of profound sexism.
Decades of James Bond movies have tried to undo the seemingly default legacy of 00-womanizing, hard drinking, and casual sexism, and there have been some interesting results. But that doesn’t erase the fact that the earlier days of films like Goldfinger suggesting moments of coercion over consent have been part of the discourse for more than a minute.
To be honest, Helen Mirren has had her own Bond-adjacent fun in the world of cinema, thanks to projects like RED and the Fast and Furious movies putting her into some pretty spectacular action. So even if there was a hypothetical offer on the table, the icon who brought Magdalene Shaw to life probably wouldn’t feel like that’s a specific itch that needs to be scratched.
The overall win we should take from this story is that Dame Helen Mirren continues to be a force to be reckoned with, both on and off screen. And in the latter context, you can catch her with Pierce Brosnan, Tom Hardy, and a cast of other notables on MobLand.
That series recently launched its first episode, with additional installments dropping every Sunday, on Paramount+. Though if you’ve been following her work against former 007 Timothy Dalton on the Yellowstone spinoff 1923, you probably knew that by now.
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