No Time to Die caught a lot of flack when it cast Lashana Lynch as a female 007 due to the franchise being known as a male dominated landscape. While the codename can be passed to any sex or identity; many did not understand that.
Recently, a new theory has been making the rounds as it comes to 007. Namely, that James Bond is just a name that’s also passed down. Apparently, the early draft wouldn’t directly have referred to Connery’s character as Bond or even a 00 agent, but it would be obvious he was the OG. Even as recently as No Time to Die, the theory of multiple James Bonds reared its head.
The internet fandom of the film have presented evidence that Connery’s Bond is the same man as Lazenby, Moore, and everyone up until Craig. Roger Moore’s The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) refers to his late wife Tracy, who was killed in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), back when Lazenby occupied the tux.
On a more obvious level, GoldenEye (1995) gave a nod to the predecessor of Judi Dench’s M, who we assume would’ve been Bernard Lee’s version of Bond’s boss. The World Is Not Enough (1999) introduced John Cleese as R, who took on the mantle of Q when Desmond Llewelyn’s version retired. More recently, a post-Skyfall Mallory (Ralph Feinnes) stepped up as the “new” M following the death of Dench’s character. It’s implied that at least those people around Bond have titles that are passed on.
Now, we get to the “multiple Bond” theory, if we’re to believe Craig’s James is just the latest in a long line of them, it would mean that Christoph Waltz’s Ernst Stavro Blofeld would be a successor to the one featured in classic Bond movies—which is not as simple as giving someone a title like M or Q.
If you still think James Bond is just a name gifted, remember that Skyfall included gravestones with the name Bond on them.
