Both the sagas of the 007 legacy and the Fast and Furious series keep moving forward with the same spirit of change and evolution, which has kept them alive for several decades of existence. Surprisingly, it looks like these twin worlds have shared a wavelength, as it’s recently come up that Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster wanted to hire writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge to punch up the Fast Saga. It’s just a shame No Time To Die snagged her first.
Revealing this interesting fact to THR, Jordana Brewster brought up Phoebe Waller-Bridge's potential hiring onto the Fast Saga team, and how it came to be. While it’s uncertain whether the Fleabag/Killing Eve talent would have been hired on for F9, Fast 10 or any of the numerous spinoffs the series has in the hopper, it’s certain that No Time To Die got in the way of these plans. And from Brewster’s statement on the matter, it sounds like they just missed the boat:
Michelle and I were talking about her right before she started writing for Bond. We were like, ‘She would be so awesome.’ And then we were like, ‘Damnit! They snagged her!' I feel like Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s British, ironic humor would add a lot.
No matter which portion of the Fast Saga would have seen Phoebe Waller-Bridge potentially punching up the dialogue, it definitely would have been a welcomed sight. Jordana Brewster’s praise of Waller-Bridge’s work only makes this missed opportunity something that fans and non-fans alike would get behind. Then again, it might still be a bit difficult to land her for a future F9 adjacent film.
While No Time To Die is currently the only James Bond film that has Ms. Waller-Bridge’s credit attached to it, there have been rumors that she might also be working on a draft for Bond 26. Even with Daniel Craig’s impending departure from the 007 role, his profane vote of confidence may have been enough to keep Phoebe Waller-Bridge and EON Productions in business. Should this be the case, it might be a bit of a wait for Waller-Bridge to jump an Aston Martin across the divider and land in the world of the Toretto family.
Then again, who’s to say that the female-led Fast and Furious spin-off couldn’t use the same polish and refinement that Phoebe Waller-Bridge gave to No Time To Die? Maybe she could even build a new project from the ground up, as Helen Mirren’s Magdalene Shaw is another character ready to be given their own moment in the solo sun. The cast seems to think that the future is female in a post-F9 world; so as the universe continues to expand, so does the chance that Ms. Waller-Bridge will get to take part in that future after all.
It’s something to think about when seeing F9, which is currently in theaters. Not to mention, once the world sees Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s work on No Time To Die unveiled this fall, her potential role in the 007 future may become a bit clearer. It still couldn’t hurt for Universal to keep an open mind, and keep Bridge on the payroll for two of the top franchises they’re currently dabbling in.
