Phoebe Waller-Bridge is just the second female writer ever to join the ranks of a Bond creative team—Johanna Harwood is credited on Dr. No (1963) and From Russia With Love (1964)—and this week, she's opened up about the task at hand.

"It's about making them feel like real people, which they do in the previous films." she said on the Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast about molding the female characters in the upcoming Bond 25. The film stars actresses Lea Seydoux (reprising her role as Dr. Madeleine Swann) and Naomie Harris (appearing again as Moneypenny), along with Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas, whose characters are yet to be revealed.

It's reported that Waller-Bridge's involvement came at the urging of star Daniel Craig, who hoped she'd infuse the long-gestating project with her "wit and quirkiness." During the podcast, the interviewer asked if she'd be folding in her "female, feminist humor." The writer quipped: "Well, we’ll see, we’ll see what I can sneak in."

Waller-Bridge has high praise for the female characters in Craig's previous Bond films.

"I think Daniel's films have had really fantastic Bond girls," she said, "so it's just keeping it up."

The storied series has been levied with accusations that it objectifies women many times over the course of its nearly six-decade run. And Craig seemed supportive of the mission to update the power dynamics last month in Jamaica at the film's press conference. "Bond has always adapted for the times," he told BBC News. "But you're dealing with a character who is flawed, who has issues, and I think that's something that's worth still exploring and grappling with." He added: "Of course, we wouldn't be movie-makers or creative people if we didn't have an eye on what was going on in the outside world."

As the creator and star of Fleabag and the writer of Killing Eve, fans of Waller-Bridge have come to love her for the compelling, fully-realized women she puts at the forefront of her projects. That she might do the same for Bond feels like a huge win for a culture that's witnessed the transformative #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in recent years, not to mention a great safeguard for the world's favorite spy as he heads into the future.

Bond 25 is expected to release in April 2020. The film presumably marks the end of Craig's run as 007. While mystery still surrounds much of the plot, some details have trickled out.



Madison Vain Madison Vain is a writer and editor living in New York, covering music, books, TV, and movies; prior to Esquire, she worked at Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated.

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